Why the GOP's anti-immigration politics are here to stay

Recent years have seen immigration become a new 'third rail' in American politics, with positions on undocumented and legal immigration varying on party and regional lines. In new research, Tyler Reny examines US Senate candidates' appeals on immigration during election campaigns. He finds that Republicans tend to use anti-immigrant appeals and that Democrats are generally more pro-immigrant, and that each party is more likely to make these appeals the larger a state’s Latino population. Once a state’s Latino population becomes large enough, however, he finds that Republican anti-immigrant appeals become less likely as countermobilization efforts become stronger.