Attitudes Toward New Migrants in NYC: Evidence from a Representative Survey

• In Event: Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 21: Political Behavior and Identity

Abstract

In the Spring of 2022, an influx of new migrants, mainly from Central and South America, began arriving in New York City. A city historically known as a haven for immigrants quickly became abuzz. NYC’s right-to-shelter law resulted in the opening of dozens of shelters across the city and prompted a state of emergency. News organizations then began asking New Yorkers for their opinions on the rapid influx of migrants into the city. The dominant media narrative was that New Yorkers were not supportive of the number of new migrants arriving in the city. Yet this narrative was drawn from anecdotal evidence. Using systematic evidence—a representative survey of 1,250 New Yorkers conducted in October 2024 —we analyze the actual attitudes and perceptions New Yorkers have towards new migrants to the city.
New York City is known as a city of immigrants, where cultures mix and live alongside each other. The city is a multicultural and multilingual space that has historically been more accepting of immigrants than less diverse areas of the country. Using data from our YouGov survey, we analyze perceptions of new migrants, focusing on how attitudes vary by perceived deservingness and by support or opposition to various policy solutions. This analysis uses two main models. The first examines New Yorkers’ attitudes towards policies that aid new migrants. The second focuses on New Yorkers’ attitudes toward new migrants, with a particular emphasis on merit. In this paper, we focus on two main variables derived from two groups of questions, centered on respondents’ policy preferences and their perceptions of the qualities they value in new migrants, to determine merit. Additionally, we are in the process of expanding this work by giving additional attention to the attitudes of respondents living in neighborhoods that experienced a higher influx of migrants.

Authors

• Suleyma Vergara-Tapia, CUNY-Graduate Center

• Yu-Jhen Chen, CUNY-Graduate Center

• Sauda Muhammad, CUNY-Graduate Center