There has been much debate about immigration policy at the national level. This year’s survey included questions to attempt to measure Hampton Roads residents’ attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in general. Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that recent immigrants (legal or otherwise) will take jobs away from people in Hampton Roads. Only 21.9% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement and 71.2% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement.
The majority of respondents (69.2%) agreed/strongly agreed that immigration is generally good for the Hampton Roads’ economy and 73.8% disagree/strongly disagreed that immigrants increase crime rates locally.
To further explore attitudes toward immigrants and immigration among Hampton Roads residents, a composite scale was created with the three survey items so that higher values indicated more negative attitudes toward immigrant in the region. Preliminary results suggest that there were not significant differences in anti-immigrant sentiments across cities or between men and women. Whites, however, held more negative attitudes toward immigrants than did Blacks. Negative attitudes toward immigrants in Hampton Roads increased as did the age of the respondent (e.g., older respondents expressing more anti-immigrant sentiment than younger respondents). There was also a statistically significant and fairly strong relationship between negative attitudes toward immigrants and political affiliation, with Republicans reporting the most anti-immigrant sentiments.
College-educated respondents reported significantly less negative attitudes toward immigrants in Hampton Roads, and there was a strong and statistical significant trend showing those in higher incomes households expressing less negative attitudes toward immigrants in the region. That is, generally as household income increased, negative attitudes toward immigrants decreased.
