Opinion Climates and Immigrant Political Action

Abstract

We develop a model of immigrant political action that connects individual motivations to become politically involved with the context in which participation takes place. The article posits that opinion climates in the form of hostility or openness toward immigrants shape the opportunity structure for immigrant political engagement by contributing to the social costs and political benefits of participation. We argue that friendly opinion climates toward immigrants enable political action among immigrants, and facilitate the politicization of political discontent. Using survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002 to 2010 in 25 European democracies, our analyses reveal that more positive opinion climates-at the level of countries and regions-increase immigrant political engagement, especially among immigrants dissatisfied with the political system. However, this effect is limited to uninstitutionalized political action, as opinion climates have no observable impact on participation in institutionalized politics.

Grenzen politischer Repräsentation: Determinanten der Wahlbeteiligung bei Integrationsratswahlen in Nordrhein-Westfalen

“…Schließlich operationalisieren wir ein immigrationsfeindliches Meinungsklima mit dem Wahlerfolg der immigrationsablehnenden rechtspopulistischen Partei Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) bei der zuletzt stattgefundenen Kommunalwahl. 17 Ein Wahlerfolg immigrationsablehnender Parteien wurde auch in bisherigen Studien als Proxy für das Ausmaß eines negativen Meinungsklimas gegenüber Zugewanderten genutzt (Berning 2016;Sarrasin et al 2012;Just und Anderson 2014). Wir gehen im Sinne der Unterdrückungsthese davon aus, dass sich ein negatives Meinungsklima gegenüber Zuwanderung negativ auf die Wahlbeteiligung von Zuwanderern auswirkt (Oskooii 2020).…”

Political Regimes and Immigrant Party Preferences

“…GDP per capita in origin country was included to ensure that the observed effects of the political regime variables are not driven by the level of economic development in migrant's origin country. Finally, at the macrolevel, existing research suggests controlling for host country's opinion climate toward immigrants, as immigrants are more likely to engage politically in more hospitable social environments (e.g., Just & Anderson, 2014).…”

Race, Ethnicity, and Political Behavior

“…Interestingly, immigrant political participation responds to the informal environment of public opinion toward immigrants rather than formal government policies designed to integrate new arrivals. In Europe, hospitable opinion climates toward immigrants in their host countries increase non-electoral political participation among foreign-born individuals (Just & Anderson, 2014). Moreover, this relationship is particularly strong among those newcomers who are dissatisfied with the political system.…”