Emotional reactions to immigration and support for EU cooperation on immigration and terrorism

Abstract

What explains variation in European citizens' support for common EU immigration and counter-terrorism policies? We advance extant literature that focuses on the utility versus identity debate by focusing on individuals' emotional reactions. Drawing on theories of affect, we show that citizens' emotions about immigration are integral to their preferences for EU cooperation on the dual questions of immigration and terrorism. We hypothesise that while anger about immigration is associated with opposition to cooperation on both policies, fear about immigration is associated with support for a common EU counter-terrorism strategy. Using a large-N crosssectional survey conducted in Germany and the Netherlands, our analyses confirm our hypotheses. Our findings have implications for the progress of European integration and the scope of public approval of EU common policies.

Psychological Correlates of Populist Attitudes

“…Some earlier research has explored the role that emotions play in promoting grievances that could drive people toward populist forces both on the Left and the Right (e.g., Marcus, 2021; Rico et al, 2017). As emotions are tackled in various distinct ways, some of which relate to attachment to extremist policies (Erisen, Vasilopoulou, & Kentmen‐Cin, 2019), how they intervene and promote attachment to (or dissociation from) populist attitudes is still a gap to be addressed in the literature.…”

Emotions and domestic vote choice

“…This is in line with literature that suggests that although distinctive in their outcomes, emotional responses can be 'experienced simultaneously and in parallel' (Marcus et al 2019: 114). This choice allows us to model the distinct effects of one emotion while controlling for the effect the other two affective response (see also Vasilopoulou and Wagner 2017;Vasilopoulos et al 2018;Erisen et al 2020;Marcus et al 2019).…”

“…Some members of the public, most likely Remainers, may perceive Brexit as a threat. These conscious or pre-conscious threat appraisals may elicit anger and fear (Erisen et al, 2020). Anger will be triggered if Brexit is interpreted as an illegitimate threat to the existing social and moral order.…”

The affective model of far‐right vote in Europe: Anger, political trust, and immigration

“…Depending on the perceived information, individuals determine whether the threat is serious (high). As much as we see emotions evoked in low-threat environments within the domain of politics, in regard to high-threat situations, emotional responses elicit strong behavioral outcomes (Albertson and Gadarian 2015;Erisen, Vasilopoulou, and Kentmen-Cin 2020;Huddy, Feldman, and Cassese 2007;Lerner and Keltner 2001). Hence, a common application of affect-driven theories relates to a perceived high-threat stimulus, often in regard to terrorism (Huddy et al 2005;Vasilopoulos et al 2019), economic crises (Rico, Guinjoan, and Anduiza 2017), and immigration (Brader, Valentino, and Suhay 2008).…”