The battle for the public perception: how increases in asylum seekers and media framing affected the perception of the refugee crisis and support for additional measures across the left-right spectrum

Abstract

ABSTRACT The sudden increase in immigrants crossing the EU external borders in 2015 kicked off a political debate about the causes, consequences, and solutions to the following refugee crisis. The public perception of immigration being a significant issue increased accordingly throughout the member states, even though some countries were only slightly affected. The study draws on a unique dataset of ten waves of Eurobarometer surveys, combined with newspaper content from 2012–2017 and asylum seekers across eight EU member states. The results document that media agenda and framing not only played a significant role in constructing the public perception of the immigration issue but also, and more fundamentally, the attitude towards whether the issue should be solved at the national or EU level. Finally, the study highlights the importance of digging beyond general trends, as significant differences in the effects are found across the left-right spectrum and member states.