Media coverage, attitudes about Latinos drive immigration debate
December 7, 2012
ANN ARBOR—The debate about immigration policies is shaped primarily by how one group feels about another—not solely based on economic concerns, according to a new University of Michigan study.
White Americans’ feelings about Latinos, but not other groups, powerfully drive their support or opposition to immigration policies. Previous explanations based on threats all immigrants pose to the U.S. economy or due to general ethnocentrism—the preference for one’s own group over all others—don’t fare as well. (more…)