| Abstract | How does Christian nationalism impact attitudes towards refugees? Building on the work of other scholars, I put forth three hypotheses. First, respondents who demonstrate higher levels of Christian nationalist ideology will express higher levels of animosity towards authorized immigrants, refusing to perceive authorized immigrants as more deserving than unauthorized immigrants. Second, respondents who demonstrate higher levels of Christian nationalist ideology will express higher levels of animosity towards refugees and support more restrictive refugee policies. Finally, respondents who demonstrate higher levels of Christian nationalist ideology will express higher levels of animosity towards Middle Eastern refugees, who are most likely to be perceived as Muslim. To test these hypotheses, I implement maximum likelihood estimation to analyze data from two nationwide surveys: the 2017 wave of the Baylor Religion Survey and the 2019 wave of the PRRI American Values Survey. Upon implementing my models, I find support for all three of my hypotheses. Most notably, as Christian nationalism increases, negative attitudes towards Middle Eastern refugees also increase. These findings have significant implications for refugee resettlement in the United States, and I look forward to continuing to extend this project. |
