 How Social Desirability Bias Affects Immigration Attitudes in a Hyperpolarized Political EnvironmentEdward Carmines and Rita Nassar Social Science Quarterly, 2021, vol. 102, issue 4, 1803-1811 Abstract: Objective Immigration attitudes have become increasingly polarizing in recent years with Democrats becoming less likely to support restrictionist policies and Republicans more likely to favor such policies. This paper examines the impact of social desirability bias on such attitudes. Method Using a list experiment, we examine whether Democrat (and liberal) opposition to the building of a wall at the Mexican border and to the deportation of undocumented immigrants are due to societal pressures to adopt inclusive positions and whether Republicans (and conservatives) hide their negative immigrant attitudes. Results We find that Democrats and liberals' views on these two issues do indeed reflect their true preferences. Conversely, we find that Republicans and conservatives do feel the need to conceal their anti‐immigrant stances. Conclusion Our results suggest that the extent of asymmetric polarization on immigration policy might even be larger because partisans also differ in their social desirability concerns. Date: 2021 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:4:p:1803-1811 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.