Abstract
To date, while there is a rich literature describing the determinants of anti-immigrant sentiment, researchers have not identified a mechanism to reduce antipathy toward immigrants. In fact, extant research has shown that efforts to induce positive attitudes toward immigrants often backfire. What if a bridging frame strategy were employed? Can a bipartisan issue area in which there is general support act as a bridging frame to elicit more positive sentiment toward immigration among those who oppose more open immigration policies? We explore this question by conducting two survey experiments in which we manipulate whether immigration is linked with the bipartisan issue area of human trafficking. We find that in forcing individuals to reconcile the fact that a widely accepted issue position of combating trafficking also requires a reassessment of immigration policies, we can positively shift attitudes on immigration.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 107-120 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Political Science |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2018 |
Funding
Bonilla Tabitha * Mo Cecilia Hyunjung † * Institute of Policy Research , Northwestern University , 2040 Sheridan Road , Evanston , IL 60202-4100 , USA , e-mail: [email protected] † Political Science , University of California , Berkeley , 210 Barrows Hall #1950 , Berkeley , CA 94720-1950 , USA , e-mail: [email protected] We thank Marc Hetherington, Cindy Kam, Christopher Karpowitz, and Yotam Margalit for helpful discussions and comments. We are also grateful for excellent feedback from the editor and the anonymous reviewers. We acknowledge Bryce Williams-Tuggle for excellent research assistance. A previous version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association and the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Vanderbilt University and Marc Hetherington provided support for this research. The data, code, and any additional materials required to replicate all analyses in this article are available at the Journal of Experimental Political Science Dataverse within the Harvard Dataverse Network, at doi: 10.7910/DVN/YTZZIT (Bonilla and Mo 2018 ). 28 05 2018 Summer 2018 5 2 107 120 Copyright © The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2018 2018 The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association
Keywords
- bridging frames
- framing
- human trafficking
- immigration
- survey experiments
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
