Seeing Immigration as a Threat

PRRI:

A majority of Americans (55%) say the growing number of newcomers from other countries strengthens American society, while four in ten (40%) say the growing number of newcomers from other countries threatens traditional American customs and values. Republicans (69%) are about twice as likely as independents (37%) and about four more times as likely as Democrats (17%) to say newcomers threaten traditional American customs and values. Though there is now a 52-percentage-point difference between Republicans and Democrats on this question, a little over a decade ago, in 2011, the difference was much lower, at 22 percentage points (Republicans 55% vs. Democrats 33%).

Among religious groups surveyed, white Christians are the most likely to think that newcomers threaten traditional American customs and values. This includes about two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants (65%), a slim majority of white mainline Protestants (53%) and half of white Catholics (50%). By contrast, four in ten other Christians (40%) and about three in ten Hispanic Catholics (31%), Black Protestants (29%), religiously unaffiliated Americans (27%), and members of non-Christian religions (27%) also say immigrants are a threat to American society.[5]

White Americans (46%) are notably more likely than Hispanic Americans (31%), Americans of another race (31%), and Black Americans (28%) to think that newcomers threaten traditional American customs and values.[6] Furthermore, white Americans without a four-year college degree are notably more likely than those with a four-year college degree to hold this view (53% vs. 34%).

People’s views on this topic are significantly affected by whether they know people who are immigrants or are immigrants themselves. Documented immigrants and those who know someone who is a documented immigrant are less likely than those who do not know any documented immigrants to say newcomers threaten traditional American customs and values (36% vs. 49%). The same is true for those who do and don’t know any undocumented immigrants (33% vs. 43%).

Americans’ proximity to people of different races and ethnicities also has an impact on whether they think immigrants threaten American customs and values. About four in ten Americans who are close friends with or know someone of a different race (39%) say that immigrants threaten traditional American customs and values, compared with a slim majority of those who don’t know anyone of a different race or ethnicity (51%).

Answers to the threat question also correlate with media consumption. Those who most trust conservative television media (76%) or Fox News (74%) are significantly more likely than those whose most trusted news source is a non-television source (42%) or a mainstream television source (28%) to say that newcomers from other countries threaten traditional American customs and values.