White Backlash by Abrajano Marisa; Hajnal Zoltan L.;

Author:Abrajano, Marisa; Hajnal, Zoltan L.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2015-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

Data and Empirical Strategy

To assess the effects of state and neighborhood context on white views, we turn to the 2000 and 2004 NAES. The NAES is an ideal source because it contains a large sample (well over fifty thousand respondents per survey) and extensive geographic variation (large samples in all mainland states and respondents from over fourteen hundred different zip codes).51 In addition, the surveys contain questions on a range of policy issues, basic ideology, party identification, and vote choice. In subsequent analyses we present results from the 2000 NAES—largely because it has a much wider array of policy questions—but analysis of the 2004 NAES leads to a similar set of conclusions.

Our analysis consists of a series of hierarchical linear models (HLM) that simultaneously incorporate immigrant/racial context, individual characteristics, and socioeconomic context to try to explain the individual political orientations of white Americans. This method can take into account the different units of analysis that we will consider (individual, neighborhood, and state) and minimizes the correlation in error terms among respondents in the same geographic unit.52 The dependent variables in our models revolve around policy areas that have been most clearly and regularly linked to immigrants as well as the issue of immigration. Specifically, we examine views on immigration (How serious of a problem is immigration to the United States?), social welfare (How serious of a problem is poverty? Should the federal government try to reduce income differences between rich and poor Americans? Should the federal government spend more or less money on health care for the poor?), three different questions related to health care, two different questions on criminal justice, and one question each on education and tax policy.53

To determine if racial context has influenced more fundamental political identities, we also analyze ideology, party identification, and vote choice. Liberal-conservative ideology is measured with a standard self-identified question (Generally speaking, do you consider your political views very conservative … [or] very liberal?). Party identification is measured with a standard self-identified question (Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or something else?).54 We examine the vote in the 2000 and 2004 presidential and congressional elections. The analysis is restricted to major party voters.

As we discussed in the previous section, we measure context by focusing on state-level demographics. Specifically, the percentage of both Latinos and Asian Americans in a state serve as our primary measures of context.55 Given that several existing studies suggest that changes in the size of the immigrant population are more consequential than the absolute size of the out-group, in alternate tests we also consider growth in the immigrant population.56

To help ensure that the relationships we see between context and white views are not spurious, we include key individual characteristics and several different measures of state context that have also been tied to political views. At the state level, we also include controls for socioeconomic status (as captured by median household income and the percentage with a college degree) and current economic conditions (measured by the percent unemployed).

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