Who Is More Committed to Their Immigration Preferences? Evidence from Germany

• In Event: Understanding Support for Immigration in Western Europe

Abstract

Immigration is a controversial political issue across Western Europe and North America. However, we join a growing body of research suggesting that immigration divides may not be as polarized as commonly perceived. To investigate the depth of immigration divides, we explore the extent to which people are committed to their general immigration preferences. We collect original survey data on a nationally-representative sample of German respondents. Our main result is that people who are generally anti-immigration are more likely than people who are pro-immigration to be strongly committed to their immigration preferences. We demonstrate this with a conjoint experiment that elicits preferences for candidates with policy platforms that cover a wide range of issues. In a second study, we examine whether respondents will support politicians who agree with them on immigration but violate a range of democratic norms. The stronger commitment among anti-immigration preferences is largely explained by the greater ideological extremity of anti as opposed to pro-immigration respondents. We find no evidence that issue salience explains the different levels of commitment. This paper contributes to debates about immigration attitudes, polarization, and highlights the points of convergence and divergence between people who lean pro and anti-immigration, which adds nuance our understanding of societal divides.

Authors

• Marc Helbling, University of Mannheim

• Felix Jäger, University of Konstanz

• Rahsaan Maxwell, New York University

• Richard Traunmuller, University of Mannheim