Factors Affecting Immigration Attitudes: Moral Foundations and More

<div><div>Virtual Presentation for Global Studies Conference, June 2020, Montreal.</div><div><br>ABSTRACT:<span> Social scientists of various stripes have built a comprehensive research program studying public attitudes towards immigrants and immigration policy. Immigration is currently among the most contentious political issues in the United States and Europe—evidenced in part by the election of Donald Trump, the UK’s Brexit vote, and the recent rise of nationalist parties on the continent. Drawing on Moral Foundations Theory and using one politically diverse sample and one liberal-leaning sample, we conducted three experiments respectively, to test whether effects of political orientation on US (and UK) immigration attitudes may be moderated by alternative moral framing of pro-immigration appeals. Data support hypotheses in the US, and is consistent with theoretical claims about moral diversity and political attitudes generally. Also, results shed new light on how shifts in immigration attitudes, that is whether one <i>entrenches </i>further into an original position or is <i>persuaded </i>into a new attitude, depend on one’s place on the political spectrum.</span></div><div> </div><br></div>