Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/99386297363
Akram Elkouraichi
Akram Elkouraichi is a third-year government major at Wesleyan University from Yonkers, New York. He is also a human rights advocacy minor and an environmental fellow with the College of the Environment. Outside of the classroom, he enjoys hiking, reading, and cooking with friends!
Abstract: This study examines the association between state-level foreign-born population share and immigration attitudes across four dimensions — preferred immigration levels, economic perceptions, cultural adaptation expectations, and support for a path to citizenship — using the 2024 American National Election Study (ANES) and U.S. Census Bureau ACS estimates.
Chi-square tests reveal significant associations between the foreign-born share and immigration attitudes across three of the four dimensions, with economic perceptions producing the strongest bivariate association. Simple logistic regression confirms that residents of Very High foreign-born states had substantially lower odds of wanting to decrease immigration and higher odds of viewing immigrants as economically beneficial compared to Very Low states. Multiple logistic regression models controlling for age, education, and income show that these associations persist beyond individual demographics, consistent with the contact hypothesis.
Education emerges as the strongest individual-level predictor, while income becomes insignificant once education and age are accounted for, challenging the economic anxiety hypothesis. These findings suggest that proximity to immigrant populations at the state level is independently associated with more favorable immigration attitudes, particularly views on immigration levels and economic perceptions, though the observational design precludes causal conclusions.