Beyond Skill: National Origin and Public Preferences for Immigration

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 07. Survey experiments

Abstract

This paper examines how immigrants’ skill level and national origin jointly shape public attitudes toward immigration in the United States. While prior research shows stronger support for high-skilled than low-skilled immigration, less is known about whether these preferences depend on how immigrant groups are racially and nationally framed. I address this question using an original survey experiment that isolates the effects of skill level and country of origin while accounting for individuals’ preexisting racial attitudes. The study draws on an online sample of 550 U.S. adults recruited through Prolific. Respondents were randomly assigned to evaluate hypothetical immigration policies that varied along two dimensions: skill level (high-skilled versus low-skilled) and country of origin. In one condition, immigration policies explicitly referenced workers from wealthy, Western European countries; in the other, policies described high- and low-skilled immigration without mentioning national origin. This design allows for a direct comparison of skill-based preferences with and without an explicit national-origin cue. The analysis examines whether support for immigration differs across these policy frames and whether observed differences are conditioned by respondents’ racial beliefs and political orientations. By comparing responses across experimental conditions, the paper evaluates whether apparent preferences for high-skilled immigration reflect purely economic considerations or are shaped by racialized and national-origin perceptions of immigrant groups. The findings contribute to research on immigration, racialization, and public opinion by demonstrating that skill-based support for immigration cannot be fully understood without attention to immigrant group characteristics. More broadly, the study highlights how seemingly neutral policy preferences may reproduce hierarchies rooted in race and global inequality.

Author

• Nasim Vaseiezadeh, Texas A & M University-System Office