Graduation Term

Summer 2025

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Politics and Government: Political Science

Committee Chair

LJ Zigerell

Committee Member

Carl Palmer

Committee Member

Brandy Jolliff-Scott

Abstract

This study explores how immigration background influences public attitudes toward immigration policy. The study employs social identity theory and assimilation theory, which elucidate how group affiliation and generational proximity influence political attitudes. Drawing on these theories, the study hypothesizes that individuals with closer ancestor migration ties are more likely to show higher levels of support for favorable policies for immigrants compared to those who have more distant ancestor migration ties. Utilizing the 2020 Cooperative Election Study (CES) data, the analysis incorporates key demographic and ideological variables as control variables, such as education, gender, age, and family income. The study found that, with demographic controls, relative to fourth- and higher-generation U.S. residents, favorable policy support for immigrants was slightly higher among first-generation non-naturalized immigrants, second-generation immigrants, and third-generation immigrants. However, when adding controls for political ideology and partisanship, fourth- and higher-generation U.S. residents only differed from first-generation non-naturalized immigrants in their more favorable policy support for immigrants. This conceptual foundation provides the critical lens for analyzing how immigrant generational status shapes public attitudes towards immigration policy preferences.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD.1763755359.139486

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