European Journal of Political Research
To what extent do political elites influence public opinion about immigration?
2026-07-14
Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding individual-level factors shaping immigration attitudes. However, we know far less about the top-down influence of political elites on such attitudes. In this review, we synthesise scholarly evidence to examine how elite discourse affects public opinion about immigration. We propose that immigration preferences are best understood through three dimensions of public opinion: attitude extremity (the degree to which individuals support or oppose immigration), attitude importance (the extent to which they consider immigration to be an important issue), and attitude expression (the behavioural manifestation of immigration attitudes). Our review suggests that elite rhetoric has a limited effect on the extremity of immigration attitudes, as these preferences are typically rooted in long-standing belief systems and shaped early in life. Isolating the influence of elites on the importance of immigration as an issue is more complex, as shifts in public concern often coincide with changes in elite discourse and media coverage, all of which are shaped by external events. However, our review indicates that political elites can play a significant role in shaping the expression of immigration attitudes – both at the ballot box and in everyday social interactions. These insights have important implications for identifying pressing research gaps and for understanding the politicisation of immigration in contemporary politics.