Immigration Attitudes and White Americans’ Responsiveness to Rising Income Inequality

Abstract

Despite decades of rising inequality, there has been little observed increase in American public support for redistribution. This is puzzling because majorities of Americans profess to be aware of and opposed to high inequality. I argue that this lack of responsiveness is not due to public ignorance of, nor apathy toward, inequality but rather, in part, to negative feelings toward immigrants, a growing, politically salient, and negatively stereotyped “out-group” that is widely viewed as a target of redistributive spending. To test this, I combine data on state-level income inequality with survey data from the 1992 to 2016 Cumulative ANES. I find that growing inequality can prompt support for redistribution but that this depends, in part, on peoples’ immigration attitudes. Overall, these results suggest that immigration has important implications for economic redistribution in an era of high, and rising inequality.

Standing against racial capitalism: Reconsidering psychology’s role in dismantling systemic racism.

“…Such racial politics suppress support for redistributive policies and empower right-wing politicians into office, who then enact neoliberal policies that worsen both racial and economic inequality (Engler & Weisstanner, 2021;Macdonald, 2021). Income inequality, in particular, is associated with a litany of adverse outcomes, including worse medical and mental health, social mobility, access to housing, health care, and education, among many others-especially for the most marginalized (McCartney et al, 2019;Sami & Jeter, 2021;Wilkinson & Pickett, 2020).…”

Sharing citizenship: economic competition, cultural threat, and immigration preferences in the rentier state

“…A considerable body of literature has been devoted to examining the relationship between immigration attitudes and the welfare state in European and North American contexts (Senik et al, 2009;Burgoon et al, 2012;Macdonald, 2021). However, the problem of immigrant rejection occurs in many societies around the world, including developing and nondemocratic settings, which present challenges for researchers.…”