Do Immigrants’ Partisan Preferences Influence Americans’ Support for Immigration?
Daniel McDowell, David A. Steinberg
Journal of Experimental Political Science, September 2025
Abstract
This study examines whether Americans are more supportive of immigration when migrants share their partisan preferences.
To address this question, we embedded a preregistered experiment in a nationally representative survey that was fielded the week before the 2024 US Presidential Election. The main experimental treatment provided information that some immigrant groups tend to favor Donald Trump and the Republican Party. This information reduced support for immigration among Democrats and increased support for immigration among Republicans.
Our findings suggest that immigrants’ political identities impact public support for immigration. They also suggest that Trump’s apparent gains among immigrant voters in the 2024 election have the potential to reduce partisan polarization over immigration in the future.
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