Abstract
A previously overlooked explanation for varying individual levels of political trust is concern about immigration. This article examines the effect of concern about immigration on political trust in Britain, where levels of opposition to immigration have remained high since the 1960s and yet the implications of such opposition are still unclear. Using the pre-election and post-election panel component of the 2005 British Election Study and the 2002–03 European Social Survey, the author shows, after controlling for other predictors of trust in politics, that concerns about the impact of immigration significantly affect political trust. In addition, in 2005 the perception that government had not handled the issue of immigration effectively also significantly affected political trust, with both linear and interactive effects.
Highlights
This paper argues that a previously overlooked explanation for varying individual-levels of political trust is concern about immigration
This paper suggests that while immigration-related worries may have a limited impact on electoral outcomes in Britain, they may still affect the British political system by reducing trust in British politicians and political institutions for the reasons noted above: immigration is perceived as weakening the connection between citizen, on the one hand, and institutions and politicians, on the other, because of perceived threat to national community
Prior research points to the conclusion that discomfort about immigration is rarely related to personal economic self interest[57] and instead stems from concern about the effect of immigration on the national community and the threats that immigrants are perceived to pose to this community, including those related to identity and economic resources
Summary
Forthcoming in the British Journal of Political Science. This research was conducted with the support of British Academy Research Development Award 52926. The author thanks the Academy for its support for this research. A previous version of this paper was presented at the seminar, ‘The Role of the Electorate in Selecting Minority Candidates: Public Opinion and Electoral Preferences’, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, 13 April 2010. The author thanks the conference participants, as well as four anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the paper. Any errors are the sole responsibility of the author
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
