Immigration Opinion and Generation Y : A Study of Tolerance

The United States is experiencing a growing class of white-collar workers whose futures are dependent on the global exchange, yet survey research on immigration has very mixed results on Americans' attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. Based on an opinion poll conducted among students at California State University, Fullerton in Spring 2008, we assess the impact of age on public opinion regarding immigration. Research has shown that those with a liberal ideology and not born in the United States are more tolerant and accepting of both immigrants and immigration. Using these factors and gender as explanatory variables, ordinal logistic models are used to determine the importance of age for questions of immigration policy preferences. The explanatory variables have the expected effect, and age is shown to have a significant impact on participant preferences as younger respondents are more tolerant toward immigrants and prefer less restrictionist immigration policies. As these findings are especially representative of generation Y, the cohort born after Generation X from about 1978 to 1998, they are important as they give an indication of the future direction of immigration policy in the United States