Framing Immigration

A Deeper Dive into the State of the Immigration Debate

Provocative findings on the effects of values on immigration support and the importance of pivoting to secondary frames to advance dialogue.

In August, FrameWorks released the topline findings from a comprehensive survey experiment of 8,000 registered voters, designed to identify how various values frames interact, and with what consequences for immigration policies and attitudes. Now the full report provides a full analysis, complete with charts and infographics, documenting three coherent and persuasive immigration narratives that show great promise for overcoming the noise and vitriol in which the immigration debate is currently entrenched.

Sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, this innovative design allows advocates to play out the frame contest and to be more strategic in orchestrating their rebuttals. Failing to pivot to a new value in the face of counter messages can prove costly -- a finding at odds with traditional message training that encourages communicators to "stay on message."

This report is part of a year-long suite of qualitative and quantitative research designed to document how people think about immigration and proposed reforms and how advocates and experts can best reframe the discussion.

Subscribe to FrameWorks online and get early notification of our next report exploring the cultural models driving many of these frame effects.