Immigration, Party Politics, and America's Racial Divide

We know that immigration is profoundly changing the demographics of America but we know less about how it is changing our politics. This presentation seeks to show how immigration is shaping the partisan politics of white Americans. We show that whites’ views on immigration and Latinos are strongly related to their core political identities and vote choices. Spurred on by the Republican Party’s attack on immigrants, more and more white Americans are shifting to the right. This rightward shift harkens back to an earlier period of white defection from the Democratic Party and has disquieting implications for the future of race relations in America.