Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes

Illegal immigration has been the focus of much debate in receiving countries, but little is known about the drivers of individual attitudes towards illegal immigrants. To study this question, we use the CCES survey, which was carried out in 2006 in the USA. We find evidence that—in addition to stand...

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Main Authors: Facchini, Giovanni, Mayda, Anna Maria, Puglisi, Riccardo
Format: Article
Published: Springer 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46874/
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author Facchini, Giovanni
Mayda, Anna Maria
Puglisi, Riccardo
author_facet Facchini, Giovanni
Mayda, Anna Maria
Puglisi, Riccardo
author_sort Facchini, Giovanni
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Illegal immigration has been the focus of much debate in receiving countries, but little is known about the drivers of individual attitudes towards illegal immigrants. To study this question, we use the CCES survey, which was carried out in 2006 in the USA. We find evidence that—in addition to standard labor market and welfare state considerations—media exposure is significantly correlated with public opinion on illegal immigration. Controlling for education, income, ideology, and other socio-demographic characteristics, individuals watching Fox News are 9 percentage points more likely than CBS viewers to oppose the legalization of undocumented immigrants. We find an effect of the same size and direction for CNN viewers, whereas individuals watching PBS are instead more likely to support legalization. Ideological self-selection into different news programs plays an important role, but cannot entirely explain the correlation between media exposure and attitudes about illegal immigration.
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spelling nottingham-468742020-05-04T19:08:39Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46874/ Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes Facchini, Giovanni Mayda, Anna Maria Puglisi, Riccardo Illegal immigration has been the focus of much debate in receiving countries, but little is known about the drivers of individual attitudes towards illegal immigrants. To study this question, we use the CCES survey, which was carried out in 2006 in the USA. We find evidence that—in addition to standard labor market and welfare state considerations—media exposure is significantly correlated with public opinion on illegal immigration. Controlling for education, income, ideology, and other socio-demographic characteristics, individuals watching Fox News are 9 percentage points more likely than CBS viewers to oppose the legalization of undocumented immigrants. We find an effect of the same size and direction for CNN viewers, whereas individuals watching PBS are instead more likely to support legalization. Ideological self-selection into different news programs plays an important role, but cannot entirely explain the correlation between media exposure and attitudes about illegal immigration. Springer 2017-09-27 Article PeerReviewed Facchini, Giovanni, Mayda, Anna Maria and Puglisi, Riccardo (2017) Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes. IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 7 (14). ISSN 2193-9039 Immigration Illegal Immigration Attitudes Preferences Media https://izajodm.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40176-017-0095-1 doi:10.1186/s40176-017-0095-1 doi:10.1186/s40176-017-0095-1
spellingShingle Immigration
Illegal Immigration
Attitudes
Preferences
Media
Facchini, Giovanni
Mayda, Anna Maria
Puglisi, Riccardo
Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
title Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
title_full Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
title_fullStr Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
title_full_unstemmed Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
title_short Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
title_sort illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes
topic Immigration
Illegal Immigration
Attitudes
Preferences
Media
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46874/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46874/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46874/