National Identity and Attitudes toward Immigrants in a "Multicreedal" America

This study expands the literature by examining how the relationship between ethnic/cultural, civic, and liberal conceptions of American national identity shapes attitudes toward immigrants. Using two crosssectional datasets, an ordinal logit model, and predicted probability scenarios, I find that an unequal balance (i.e., strong favoring of one or more dimensions at the expense of the others) of these three different dimensions of national identity results in extremely negative or positive attitudes toward immigrants, while those that hold moderate levels of these three elements of identity are likely to express neutral-to-positive attitudes. I argue that it is the balance between these dimensions that is important in shaping individual attitudes toward immigrants, making it essential to determine not just individual support for each dimension of national identity but the support of each dimension vis-a-vis each other.