Media Use and Affective Political Polarization: What Shapes Public Perceptions of Immigrants’ Deservingness?

ABSTRACT

This study explores the connections between partisan news exposure, affective political polarization, perceived threats from migrants, and immigrant deservingness. Data from a 2018 U.S. national survey indicate that exposure to immigration news on Fox News is associated with higher levels of polarization among Republicans and Democrats, while exposure to such content on CNN is not. Additionally, greater polarization correlates with Republicans perceiving more threats from migrants, while Democrats perceive fewer. Finally, Republicans with higher levels of polarization are more likely than polarized Democrats to believe that migrants should have specific qualifications to be considered deserving.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The study (#18–289) was approved by Syracuse University’s Institutional Review Board.

² Because independents have no clear party affiliation, the measure of affective political polarization used in this study has a somewhat different meaning for independents than for Democrats and Republicans. For Republicans and Democrats, the polarization measure represents how they feel toward members of the opposing party (in-group vs. out-group). For independents, on the other hand, the polarization measure indicates how they feel toward members of the two main parties (both out-groups). The model for independents shown in Figure 3 therefore serves as a control for the hypothesized effects of partisan media exposure and affective political polarization on perceived threats and deservingness independent of party affiliation.

³ We decided to combine the two statements in an index despite the low Spearman-Brown coefficient of .63. We believe the two statements reflect the concept of “symbolic threat” well because they both refer to imagined or perceived threats to “American” culture, customs, and traditions coming from migrants. Consequently, the modest correlation (Pearson’s r = .46) between the two variables might not reflect their true conceptual closeness.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lars Willnat

Lars Willnat (Ph.D., Indiana University) is the John Ben Snow Research Professor in the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. His research focuses on journalism studies, political communication, and comparative survey research.

Christine Ogan

Christine Ogan (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is Professor Emerita at Indiana University’s Media School and School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. Her research centers on the relationship between media and migration in Turkey, and the Turkish diaspora in Europe and the United States.

Jian Shi

Jian Shi (Ph.D., Syracuse University) is a researcher at the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration. Most of her research falls under the umbrella of international communication and digital media effects.