“Illegal,” “Undocumented,” or “Unauthorized”: Equivalency Frames, Issue Frames, and Public Opinion on Immigration

Immigration has been a salient and contentious topic in the United States, with a great deal of congressional debate, advocacy efforts, and media coverage. Among conservative and liberal groups, there is a vigorous debate over the terms used to describe this population, such as “undocumented” or “il...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives on politics 2013-09, Vol.11 (3), p.789-807
Main Authors: Merolla, Jennifer, Ramakrishnan, S. Karthick, Haynes, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Amnesty
Attitude change
Attitude formation
Children
Citizenship
Conservatism
Hispanics
Illegal immigration
Immigrants
Immigration
Immigration Policy
Legal status
News Coverage
Public Opinion
U.S.A
Undocumented Immigrants
United States of America
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Summary:Immigration has been a salient and contentious topic in the United States, with a great deal of congressional debate, advocacy efforts, and media coverage. Among conservative and liberal groups, there is a vigorous debate over the terms used to describe this population, such as “undocumented” or “illegal,” as both sides perceive significant consequences to public opinion that flow out of this choice in equivalency frames. These same groups also compete over the ways in which immigration policies are framed. Here, for the first time, we examine the use of both types of frames (of immigrants themselves, and the policies affecting them) in media coverage. Importantly, we also test for whether these various frames affect preferences on three different policies of legalization. Our results suggest that efforts to focus on the terms used to describe immigrants have limited effect, and that efforts to frame policy offer greater promise in swaying public opinion on immigration.
ISSN:1537-5927
1541-0986
DOI:10.1017/S1537592713002077