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Changing Americans’ Attitudes about Immigration: Using Moral Framing to Bolster Factual Arguments

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  • Jan G. Voelkel
  • Mashail Malik
  • Chrystal Redekopp
  • Robb Willer

Abstract

Our tendency to interpret facts in ways that are consistent with our prior beliefs impedes evidence-based attempts to persuade partisans to change their views on pressing societal issues such as immigration. Accordingly, most prior work finds that favorable information about the impact of immigration has little or no influence on policy preferences. Here, we propose that appealing to individuals’ moral values can bolster the persuasive power of informational interventions. Across three experiments (total N = 4,616), we find that an argument based on the value of in-group loyalty, which emphasized that immigrants are critical to America’s economic strength, combined with information about the economic impact of legal immigration, significantly increased Americans’ support for legal immigration. We also find a significant effect of the moral component of this message alone, even without factual information. These results show that moral arguments can strengthen the persuasiveness of informational appeals.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan G. Voelkel & Mashail Malik & Chrystal Redekopp & Robb Willer, 2022. "Changing Americans’ Attitudes about Immigration: Using Moral Framing to Bolster Factual Arguments," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 73-85, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:700:y:2022:i:1:p:73-85
    DOI: 10.1177/00027162221083877
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barrera, Oscar & Guriev, Sergei & Henry, Emeric & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2020. "Facts, alternative facts, and fact checking in times of post-truth politics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
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    7. Scott Blinder, 2015. "Imagined Immigration: The Impact of Different Meanings of ‘Immigrants’ in Public Opinion and Policy Debates in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 63(1), pages 80-100, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Robin Bayes, 2022. "Moral Convictions and Threats to Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 86-96, March.

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