Decoding prejudice toward Hispanics: Group cues and public reactions to threatening immigrant behavior

Abstract

Is public opposition to immigration motivated by ethnic prejudice? We present data from a series of nationally representative, survey-embedded experiments to show that Americans take significantly greater offense to transgressions such as being in the country illegally, working without paying taxes, and rejecting symbols of American identity, when the perpetrating immigrant is Hispanic rather than white. In addition, we demonstrate that these ethnicity-based group differences in public reactions predict support for restrictive immigration policies. The findings from this article belie the claim of non-prejudice and race-neutrality avowed by many opponents of immigration.

Publication
Political Behavior
Date