Americans' Opposition to Muslim Immigration: Untangling Religion from Country of Origin.
Saved in:
| Title: | Americans' Opposition to Muslim Immigration: Untangling Religion from Country of Origin. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Christley, Olyvia R. (AUTHOR), Zhirkov, Kirill (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Political Behavior. Dec2025, Vol. 47 Issue 4, p1435-1457. 23p. |
| Subjects: | Religions, Muslims, Segregation, Partisanship, Country of origin (Immigrants), Conjoint analysis, Political opposition, Social attitudes |
| Abstract: | Does an immigrant's country of origin shape Americans' immigration preferences? If so, are some attributes of origin countries likely to provoke particularly strong opposition over others? We answer these questions using three conjoint experimental studies that focus on one of these potential attributes: religion. In doing so we find consistent evidence of strong opposition to immigration from Muslim-majority countries. Furthermore, individual Muslim immigrants face stronger opposition than non-Muslims, independently of their origin countries. Aversion to Muslim immigration is found across the partisan divide, even though it is lower among Democrats than among Republicans. Our findings suggest that exclusionary immigration policies aimed at Muslims, like President Donald Trump's travel ban, can have non-trivial support amongst the American public. Methodologically, we demonstrate the limitations of relying on country of origin as a catch-all attribute in conjoint experiments and suggest that, instead, researchers should directly manipulate the relevant characteristics of potential immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Political Behavior is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
|
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Login for full access.
|
|
| Abstract: | Does an immigrant's country of origin shape Americans' immigration preferences? If so, are some attributes of origin countries likely to provoke particularly strong opposition over others? We answer these questions using three conjoint experimental studies that focus on one of these potential attributes: religion. In doing so we find consistent evidence of strong opposition to immigration from Muslim-majority countries. Furthermore, individual Muslim immigrants face stronger opposition than non-Muslims, independently of their origin countries. Aversion to Muslim immigration is found across the partisan divide, even though it is lower among Democrats than among Republicans. Our findings suggest that exclusionary immigration policies aimed at Muslims, like President Donald Trump's travel ban, can have non-trivial support amongst the American public. Methodologically, we demonstrate the limitations of relying on country of origin as a catch-all attribute in conjoint experiments and suggest that, instead, researchers should directly manipulate the relevant characteristics of potential immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 01909320 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11109-024-09996-w |
