| Research explaining why Americans vote the way they do is vast, yet several gaps remain. This set of papers aims to fill in some of these gaps by providing further information on the factors that alter public support for two highly controversial policies; immigration and affirmative action in the hiring and promotion of Blacks. Using survey data from the National Election Studies all chapters seek to explain how, if at all, different economic indicators alter the probability of acceptance for these policies. The first paper looks at the impact of state and year variation in crime rates on public support towards increasing the number of immigrants allowed to live in the US. The results show there is no relationship between crime rates and anti-immigrant sentiment. Instead, the link between anti-immigrant behavior and crime exists via the perceived need for higher government spending on crime prevention. The second paper studies evidence for Group Threat and Self-Interest Theories in the context of immigration policy. According to predictions made by Group Threat Theory, the results illustrate a negative and significant relationship between the number of immigrants admitted in the US and public sentiment to increase this number. No evidence of Self-Interest Theory was found. The final chapter studies the effect of changes in State and Black unemployment rates on Black support for affirmative action. The results demonstrate Blacks in central cities are more likely to support this policy than their rural counterparts. In particular, the results show it only takes an unemployment rate of 4% to increase support for this policy in central cities. Support in non-central cities however, increases after an unemployment rate of 12%. These results suggest competition with other groups, which is exacerbated in central cities, is likely to drive such result. However, these are of an associative nature and should not be interpreted as causal. |
