Representative: Frank Pallone

Congressional District: 6^th District of New Jersey

Party: Democratic Party

Immigrant Interviewee Backgrounds

As described previously in Assignment 2, a qualitative interview study was designed to evaluate how attitudes differ to news coverage of Latino versus Asian immigration. A diverse panel of immigrants were interviewed from across the district. Mrs. Sylvia Leong and Mr. Mahesh Shah represented Asian immigrants and were from the Asian population center of the district. Both interviewees, however, had different backgrounds with Mr. Shah being actively involved in local politics. Mrs. Leong, on the other hand, demonstrated little interest in news media and immigration politics. Mr. Victor Riveros represented the Latino voice and was also from a Latino population center. Mr. Riveros held strong views on the media treatment of Latino immigrants but not of Asian immigrants. Mr. William Halsey represented Non-Hispanic white Americans; he actively followed local and national news media but had neutral views on immigration.

Interview Script Description

In order to evaluate immigrant attitudes, the qualitative interview study was designed with a line of questioning that first gauged exposure and broad views before drilling down. The same line of questioning was used for every interview irrespective of ethnicity to maintain consistency. Each interview began with questions assessing exposure to local and national news, followed by evaluation if those news sources were fair and balanced in respect to politics and immigration. Next, the questioning would address opinion on the Latino and Asian ethnic groups, highlighting their work ethic and impact on American culture. Lastly, the questioning would strike at the heart of the matter, evaluating how immigration news coverage was perceived and affected political affiliation.

Anonymous Representative Quotations

All interviewees requested that the interview content remain anonymous. In accordance with the line of questioning, the quotations from the interviews did hit on all the major themes of news exposure, fairness/balance of news, opinion of ethnic groups, and immigration news coverage of ethnic groups. There was a high degree of variability in respect to news exposure with some interviewees following both local and national news regularly and others having little interest in either source. Many of the interviewees struggled to evaluate the fairness and balance of their news sources, alluding to news sources like FOX or CNN to illustrate bias. Importantly, all of the interviewees believed that local news was also biased and dominated by special interests. On the opinion of ethnic groups, the ethnicity of the interviewee played a major factor as expected. In general, Latino immigrants were perceived to be hardworking but unassimilated due to language and cultural barriers. On the other hand, Asians were deemed to be a model minority and integrated members of American society. Questions pertaining to immigration news coverage tended to elicit the most opinionated and vibrant responses. News coverage of immigration was vehemently criticized and, in many cases, equated coverage with the sentiments and words of President Trump. Although the interviews did achieved the diversity in thought, the disparity in understanding and language barrier did impact the findings.

Findings and Themes of Qualitative Study

The qualitative interview study did confirm the original hypothesis and reveal interesting sentiments around immigration politics in the media. Significantly, all the interviewees demonstrated a clear mistrust of the media at both the local and national levels. Many struggled to spotlight an unbiased and credible news source. I speculate that these results would be very different a few years ago. The emergence of social media, “fake news”, and media overload has perhaps caused everyday people to lose faith in the media. Without being prompted, many respondents also tied their distrust of the media to President Trump. As expected, there was also a clear difference in perception of Asian immigration versus Latino immigration. Asians were in general deemed to be more integrated and productive. As a result, Asian immigration was referenced positively by respondents. Latinos, in contrast, were generally believed to occupy a lower standing and be less integrated into society due to the language barrier. Although Latino immigrants were thought to be industrious, Latino immigration was also negatively associated with “crossing the border” and the border wall. Importantly, the immigration coverage of Asians and Latinos was thought to be unfair and attacking. The climate around immigration news coverage prompted many to retrench deeper into their personal political views and affiliations.

Representative: Frank Pallone

Congressional District: 6^th District of New Jersey

Party: Democratic Party

NJ-06: Demographic Data

In comparison to the nation and state, the sixth district of New Jersey is remarkably diverse and has experienced significant demographic changes. First and foremost, the immigrant population—comprising both foreign born naturalized citizens and foreign born permanent residents—currently constitutes 28.6% of the district population which is significantly higher than the national statistic of 14.4% and state statistic of 22.1%. Over the ten year period from 2007 to 2017, the district has experienced a surge in the Asian and Hispanic populations with a 8.60 percentage point increase and 7.30 percentage point increase respectively. Viewed from a macro-perspective, the Asian and Hispanic minorities in fact comprise over 40% of the district population.

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates; Selected Characteristics of the Native and Foreign-Born Populations

U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates; Selected Characteristics of the Native and Foreign-Born Populations

Political Theories of Immigration Dynamics

Through detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis, political scientists have generated theories to explain the effects of local population characteristics on media coverage, public opinion on immigration, and immigrant experiences. Importantly, Abrajano, Hajnal, and Chavez uncover differential media coverage of Asian immigrants and Hispanic immigrants. Abrajano and Hajnal found that over a thirty year time span, the New York Times has had a negative bent of Hispanic immigration, forming and advancing pervasive Latino threat narrative. According to Chavez, unlike Hispanic immigration news coverage, Asian immigration news coverage does not generate the same anxieties, fears, and backlash. Branton and Dunaway also examined the effect of location and found that proximity to the border was a predicator of a greater negative sentiment. In the same way, Newman uncovered that lived experience with the Hispanic population growth lead to a negative reaction by whites in that area. Abrajano and Hajnal, however, did not find that changes to the Asian population generated the same shifts in the macro-partisanship of the Latino population. At a larger level though, Hopkins found that destabilizing changes in population demographics promoted an anti-immigrant public opinion. Ultimately, the media coverage and public opinion of immigration created potent effects on the immigrant experience. Lopez highlighted that, on a racial level, the Trump administration has driven more Hispanics to be concerned about deportation. On the legislative level, increases in the immigrant population within a locality causes a district to give greater weight to anti-immigrant proposals. Taken as a whole, demographic changes are indicative of neutral or negative immigration sentiments.

Sources:

Abrajano, Marisa, and Zoltan L. Hajnal. White backlash: immigration, race, and American politics. Princeton University Press, 2017.

Chavez, Leo. The Latino threat: Constructing immigrants, citizens, and the nation. Stanford University Press, 2013.

Branton, Regina P., and Johanna Dunaway. “Slanted newspaper coverage of immigration: The importance of economics and geography.” Policy Studies Journal 37.2 (2009): 257-273.

Newman, Benjamin J., Sono Shah, and Loren Collingwood. “Race, place, and building a base: Latino population growth and the nascent trump campaign for president.” Public Opinion Quarterly 82.1 (2018): 122-134.

Hopkins, Daniel J. “Politicized places: Explaining where and when immigrants provoke local opposition.” American political science review 104.1 (2010): 40-60.

Lopez, Mark Hugo, Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, and Jens Manuel Krogstad. “More Latinos Have Serious Concerns About Their Place in America Under Trump.” Pew Research Center, October 25 (2018).

Prediction of Political Theories of Immigration Dynamics  

Importantly, there are clear linkages between political theories described and the predicted effects on the sixth district of New Jersey. The prevalence of the New York Times nationally and within New Jersey suggests that the Latino threat narrative is very much present in the minds of voters in the district. In contrast, Asian immigration coverage should likely have limited to no effect on the voter base since that coverage does not stoke the same reactions. Lack of proximity to the U.S. border also means that the local news coverage should not have a negative bend on immigration. The high percentage of Hispanics in the district suggests frequent intergroup contact with whites, possibly leading to a negative, adversarial reaction. Although theory implies that changes in the Asian demographic does not precipitate changes in macro-partisanship, the 8.60 percentage point increase is indeed high and might not be captured by theory. The seemingly rapid change in the demographics of the district, however, do portend a more negative immigrant attitude. On the level of the immigrant, the Hispanic immigrant population likely feels threatened by the Trump administration. The 5.20 percentage point increase in the district immigrant population should also cause a greater consideration of anti-immigrant legislation.

Qualitative Testing of Immigration Dynamics

As demonstrated by the demographic data, the Asian and Hispanic populations experienced the most significant population changes in the district. Given that political theory highlights differential media coverage of these two ethnic groups, the research plan proposed will focus on reactions to media coverage. Through qualitative interviews of Asian, Asian Indian, Hispanic, and White voters in NJ-06, the study will piece together how individual-level, perceived reactions to immigration media coverage align with macro-level data. The research study will not only focus on the framing of these district ethnic communities but also if and how that influences political affiliation. In order to minimize confounding effects, the same question set will be administered to each interview candidate.