(iPoster) Population Aging and the Politics of Immigration Attitudes

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Migration and Citizenship & Political Beliefs and Democratic Legitimacy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Migration & Citizenship

Abstract

While many advanced democracies emphasize the importance of admitting more immigrants to counterbalance rapid population aging, relatively little is known about how population aging intersects with public attitudes toward immigration. While a few previous studies effectively show that priming natives with information about population aging and the need for immigration increases immigration preferences, relatively little is known about how large this shift is when compared to alternative, non-immigration-based solutions to population aging. In real-world settings, natives are exposed to multiple competing ideas and policy solutions to address population aging, many of which do not involve increasing immigration. Testing this is important in the context of rising anti-immigrant sentiment in many rapidly aging societies—contexts in which demographic pressures might, from a rational standpoint, be expected to generate more pro-immigration attitudes.

This paper examines the extent to which information about population aging shifts public support for immigration, and how alternative, non-immigration-based solutions to population aging shape natives’ immigration attitudes. I conduct a vignette-based survey experiment in Japan—a rapidly aging democracy—to examine whether and how concerns about population aging influence public opinion on immigration, and how exposure to non-immigration policy responses (such as automation) conditions these attitudes. The study explores both the overall effects of informational cues and framing strategies related to population aging, as well as potential subgroup differences in responses. By situating immigration preferences within demographic contexts, this study contributes to broader debates on the politics of immigration and aging, and offers insights into why anti-immigration sentiment may increase even in societies experiencing severe population aging.

Author

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