Saved by the Stars and Stripes? Images of Protest, Salience of Threat, and Immigration Attitudes

Abstract

This article uses a survey experiment embedded in the 2008 CCES national sample to assess how the public responds to immigrant-rights protests and to determine whether symbolic representations of national identity can serve to “prime” attitudes about immigrants and immigration policy. Based on social identity theory, the common in-group identity model, we expect responses to protesters waving American flags as a display of loyalty should be less hostile than responses to protesters waving Mexican flags. Our experiment demonstrates evidence in favor of this proposition but shows no impact of how protesters were framed on immigration policy preferences.