Party Influences and Educational Effects on Public Opinion about Immigration

During the past decades, political competition in Europe has been fundamentally transformed by mobilization of immigration and other cultural issues (e.g. Kriesi et al. 2006). Analysing the drivers of public opinion about immigration and how this relates to party stances on this issue should facilitate understanding developments like Brexit or recent national elections. Research on public opinion points to the influence of party cues on public preferences (e.g. Zaller 1992), including in relation to the immigration issue. At the same time, scholars have pointed to an education cleavage that increasingly separates citizens with libertarian values from those holding authoritarian values (Stubager 2009). Education is strongly related to holding pro-immigrant attitudes (Hainmueller & Hiscox 2007). What is less known is how citizens receiving party cues that are incongruent with values arising from their education, that is, cross-pressured citizens, form attitudes toward immigration. This study explores this question, relying on statistical methods for time-series cross-sectional data on citizens’ immigration attitudes and their educational attainment, combined with information on party positions on immigration in several European countries. References Hainmueller, J. & Hiscox, M.J. (2007). Educated Preferences: Explaining Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe. International Organization, 61(2): 399–442. Kriesi, H. et al. (2006). Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared. European Journal of Political Research, 45(6): 921–956. Stubager, R. (2009). Education-based group identity and consciousness in the authoritarian-libertarian value conflict. European Journal of Political Research, 48(2): 204–233. Zaller, J.R. (1992). The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.