A new Washington Post newspaper series, “Storyline,” has come out swinging on the ethnic pressures behind how non-Hispanic white Americans feel about immigration. Even the paper’s sub-headline notes that “it’s not pretty.” The series, which hopes to use polling data to explain how policy affects public opinion “… and the other way around,” gets deeply into the race card.

 

Reports the WaPo: “Whites who read a negative story featuring an Hispanic immigrant had a strong political reaction. In addition to higher opposition to immigration, they became more supportive of an ‘English-only’ law, asked for more information about the issue and were more apt to send an e-mail  to their congressional representative advocating reduced immigration levels when asked in the survey… Negative news about a Russian immigrant had little impact on political motivation.”

 

Read it and weep here: The data on white anxiety over Hispanic immigration