Location

Parker-Reed, SSWAC

Start Date

30-4-2015 9:00 AM

End Date

30-4-2015 10:55 AM

Project Type

Poster

Description

Immigration Policy is a highly divisive issue in the United States, most notably recently with the Obama Administrations executive order on immigration reform and subsequent injunction by Texas Judge Andrew S. Hansen. Major influences on immigration opinion and policy include international political conflict. For example, surrounding the tragic events of 9/11 there was a large increase in xenophobic attitudes according to polls taken in the beginning of 2001 and 2002: a Gallup poll demonstrated that those wanting less immigration increased from 36% in 2001 to 52% in the following year. The goal of this paper is to observe the effect of wartime escalation on xenophobic attitudes and immigration opinion in the United States. The hypothesis is that increased wartime activity or publication of wartime activity will increase the public negative attitudes towards immigration. We can examine the effects of this in different states or regions with varying political, racial, and religious demographics or in consideration of other factors. We will collect the data starting with a set of Gallup polls on immigration opinion from 2001 to 2015 as well as U.S. government databases on war spending. Demographic information is widely available from Census data. The findings of this paper will be relevant for understanding how increased wartime conflict can make people less able to understand other perspectives, and preventing political bias in hopes of reaching objective immigration policy.

Faculty Sponsor

Daniel LaFave

Sponsoring Department

Colby College. Economics Dept.

CLAS Field of Study

Social Sciences

Event Website

http://www.colby.edu/clas

ID

1595

Included in

Economics Commons

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Apr 30th, 9:00 AM Apr 30th, 10:55 AM

Effects of War-Time Escalation on Immigration Attitudes in the United States

Parker-Reed, SSWAC

Immigration Policy is a highly divisive issue in the United States, most notably recently with the Obama Administrations executive order on immigration reform and subsequent injunction by Texas Judge Andrew S. Hansen. Major influences on immigration opinion and policy include international political conflict. For example, surrounding the tragic events of 9/11 there was a large increase in xenophobic attitudes according to polls taken in the beginning of 2001 and 2002: a Gallup poll demonstrated that those wanting less immigration increased from 36% in 2001 to 52% in the following year. The goal of this paper is to observe the effect of wartime escalation on xenophobic attitudes and immigration opinion in the United States. The hypothesis is that increased wartime activity or publication of wartime activity will increase the public negative attitudes towards immigration. We can examine the effects of this in different states or regions with varying political, racial, and religious demographics or in consideration of other factors. We will collect the data starting with a set of Gallup polls on immigration opinion from 2001 to 2015 as well as U.S. government databases on war spending. Demographic information is widely available from Census data. The findings of this paper will be relevant for understanding how increased wartime conflict can make people less able to understand other perspectives, and preventing political bias in hopes of reaching objective immigration policy.

https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2015/program/13