How Characterizations of Refugees Shape Attitudes Toward Refugee Restrictions: A Study of Christian and Muslim Americans

Abstract

Discussion surrounding refugee policy often includes characterizations of refugees themselves. I use an experiment to identify how the characterizations used to describe refugees influence attitudes toward restrictive refugee policies among Christian and Muslim Americans. Overall, I find broad support among Christians and ambivalence among Muslims sampled for a policy that would dramatically reduce refugee entry in the USA. However, I also find that Muslim American respondents are significantly less supportive of restrictive policies when refugees are explicitly identified as Muslim but there is no such impact among Christian Americans. My findings contribute to our understanding of how characterizations about refugees and explicit religious cues impact policy attitudes and how political communication influences small minority groups in the USA.