Partisanship and Views about Immigration in Southern California: Just How Partisan is the Issue of Immigration?

Abstract

Given the prevailing levels of elite partisan contentiousness over immigration issues, we expect to see mass attitudes towards immigration replicate this polarization. We explore the partisan implications of this issue by examining popular attitudes towards immigrants in California, where attitudes towards immigration and immigrants have formed central themes in a series of highly charged political campaigns and elite discourse on the issue is polarized. Yet even in California we find that many different kinds of voters share a surprisingly similar set of concerns about the flow of immigrants into the nation. We are particularly interested in whether Democrats and Republicans view the public policy consequences of immigration in similar or different ways. We find that Republicans more likely indicate they think immigration will have harmful effects on social and policy outcomes in the United States, but Democrats tend to share similar concerns. One consequence of this pattern is that the US Republican Party -at least the party in California -may be able to use the immigration issue as a wedge to attract support from people who tend to support Democratic candidates, often thought friendlier to immigrants. 36Neiman et al.

Framing Labels and Immigration Policy Attitudes in the Iowa Caucuses: “Trying to Out-Tancredo Tancredo”

“…This effect holds, generally, for both Republicans and Democrats; at least in Iowa, immigration policy attitudes are not primarily determined by partisanship. This echoes the findings of Nieman et al (2006), who find the same effect in California: those for whom the immigration issue is important have more conservative policy preferences, regardless of partisanship. 6 The fact that these results have been found in a diverse state (California) as well as a relatively homogenous state (Iowa) speaks to their generalizability.…”

Implicit Nativist Attitudes, Social Desirability, and Immigration Policy Preferences

“…It is especially relevant in today's political environment where some have referred to the perennial immigration policy issue as the new “third rail” of American politics (Schaper, ) and where Latinos are becoming an increasingly important and influential minority group in the political environment. Accordingly, a variety of potential determinants of immigration attitudes have been uncovered, including gender (Hughes and Tuch, ), age (Wilson, ), education (Hoskin and Mishler, ; Espenshade and Calhoun, ), religion (Knoll, ; McDaniel, Nooruddin, and Shortle, ), partisanship (Neiman, Johnson, and Bowler, ), economic competition (Citrin et al ., ; Hood, Morris, and Shirkey, ), racism (Ayers et al ., ), social context (Tolbert and Hero, ; Hood and Morris, ; Hopkins, ), and even media cues (Brader, Valentino, and Suhay, ).…”

Intergroup Relations and Predictors of Immigrant Experience

“…Specifically, this study investigated immigrants' unfavorable interactions with nonimmigrants. Although many studies have investigated the negative perception of nonimmigrant Americans on immigrants and immigration (Chandler & Tsai, 2001;Esses et al, 2001;Esses et al, 1998;Neiman et al, 2006), very little is known about immigrant experiences resulting from their interactions with nonimmigrant Americans. Little is known on the application of intergroup relations theory in the social work literature; this despite the fact that social workers facilitate intergroup dynamics on a daily basis, especially those who work with immigrants and refugees.…”

“…Studies, such as those by Chandler and Tsai (2001) and Neiman, Johnson, and Bowler (2006), indicate that both a perceived threat to the English language and conservative political ideology are negatively associated with attitudes toward immigrants. According to Espenshade and Hempstead (1996), factors such as income and educational levels are associated with positive or negative attitudes toward immigration-those who have higher education and income levels have more positive attitudes concerning immigration.…”