Political Trust and Support for Immigration in the European Mass Public

Abstract

What factors shape European opinion on immigration? Past work has largely pointed to evaluations of various immigrant groups and the cultural, criminal, and/or economic threats they may pose to society, but has overlooked how evaluations of the broader political system matter. Using cross-sectional and panel data from the European Social Survey (ESS), we find that higher levels of political trust are associated with increased public support for allowing a variety of different groups to immigrate, including non-Europeans, Muslims, and Roma. We also find that political trust is positively associated with support for a generous and accommodating refugee policy. We attribute these findings to greater mass confidence in the political system’s ability to protect the native population from any perceived immigration-related threats. Overall, these findings suggest that political trust, which is near historic lows, has important implications for understanding public opinion toward immigration, a highly salient issue in contemporary European politics.