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Table 3 Correlates of attitudes towards illegal immigration, baseline results

From: Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes

Dependent variable

Pro_lenient_plan dummy

 

Estimation method

Probit

Probit

Probit

Probit

Probit

Probit

Probit

 

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Age

−0.018c

−0.014c

−0.014c

−0.014c

−0.014c

−0.011c

−0.013c

 

[0.001]

[0.002]

[0.002]

[0.002]

[0.002]

[0.002]

[0.002]

Age squared

0.000c

0.000c

0.000c

0.000c

0.000c

0.000c

0.000c

 

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

Female dummy

0.034c

0.009

0.008

0.008

0.008

0.01

0.006

 

[0.007]

[0.007]

[0.008]

[0.008]

[0.008]

[0.009]

[0.008]

Black dummy

0.075c

0.016

0.002

0.008

0.01

0.001

0.006

 

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.017]

[0.017]

[0.018]

[0.019]

Latino dummy

0.225c

0.221c

0.209c

0.203c

0.205c

0.212c

0.219c

 

[0.019]

[0.024]

[0.023]

[0.023]

[0.021]

[0.026]

[0.026]

Immigrant origin

0.027c

0.017c

0.017c

0.017c

0.018c

0.019c

0.021c

 

[0.006]

[0.005]

[0.005]

[0.005]

[0.005]

[0.006]

[0.006]

Education

0.046c

0.041c

0.040c

0.040c

0.041c

0.042c

0.040c

 

[0.004]

[0.004]

[0.004]

[0.004]

[0.004]

[0.005]

[0.005]

Income

0.001

0.004c

0.004c

0.004c

0.005c

0.004b

0.004b

 

[0.001]

[0.001]

[0.001]

[0.001]

[0.001]

[0.002]

[0.002]

Conservative ideology (100-point scale)

–

−0.006c

−0.005c

−0.005c

−0.005c

−0.005c

−0.005c

  

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

[0.000]

Party id (3-point scale)

–

−0.051c

–

–

–

–

–

  

[0.009]

     

Party id (7-point scale)

–

–

−0.027c

−0.027c

−0.028c

−0.031c

−0.026c

   

[0.004]

[0.004]

[0.004]

[0.005]

[0.004]

ABC dummy

−0.046c

−0.031b

−0.034b

−0.032b

−0.036b

–

–

 

[0.014]

[0.014]

[0.014]

[0.014]

[0.015]

  

CNN dummy

−0.051c

−0.081c

−0.089c

−0.088c

−0.089c

–

–

 

[0.018]

[0.018]

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.016]

  

FOX News dummy

−0.258c

−0.103c

−0.094c

−0.093c

−0.096c

–

–

 

[0.015]

[0.015]

[0.015]

[0.015]

[0.015]

  

PBS dummy

0.226c

0.151c

0.139c

0.137c

0.136c

–

–

 

[0.023]

[0.023]

[0.023]

[0.023]

[0.024]

  

NBC dummy

−0.006

0.002

0

0

−0.003

–

–

 

[0.015]

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.016]

  

MSNBC dummy

0.037

−0.017

−0.018

−0.018

−0.021

–

–

 

[0.025]

[0.022]

[0.021]

[0.021]

[0.022]

  

Other network dummy

0.008

0.004

0.01

0.008

0.009

–

–

 

[0.030]

[0.030]

[0.030]

[0.030]

[0.031]

  

No evening news dummy

−0.103c

−0.040b

−0.037b

−0.038b

−0.041b

–

–

 

[0.015]

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.016]

[0.017]

  

Count of stories on illegal immigration on the favorite news broadcast

–

–

–

–

–

–

−0.001c

       

[0.000]

Count of stories about immigration, but not illegal one, on favorite broadcast

–

–

–

–

–

–

−0.001c

       

[0.000]

Population density (county level)

–

–

0.030c

0.032c

0.033c

0.027c

0.028c

   

[0.008]

[0.009]

[0.007]

[0.008]

[0.008]

Fraction of illegal immigrants (state level)

–

–

0.007c

–

–

0.007c

0.007c

   

[0.003]

  

[0.003]

[0.003]

Fraction of legal immigrants (state level)

–

–

−0.001

–

–

−0.002

−0.002

   

[0.001]

  

[0.001]

[0.001]

State fixed effects

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

No

DMA fixed effects

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

No

Pseudo R-squared

0.1

0.17

0.17

0.18

0.18

0.15

0.16

Observations

19,401

19,401

20,422

20,422

20,409

13,656

13,656

  1. The sample excludes all individuals who describe themselves as immigrants. The dependent variable is a dummy which takes on the value of 1 if the respondent would have voted in favor of the Senate plan on illegal immigration and 0 otherwise. The panel contains the estimated marginal effect on the probability of being in favor of the Senate plan, given an increase in the value of the relevant regressor, holding all other regressors at their mean values. Income is coded according to a 1–14 ordered scale of income brackets. Education is coded according to a 1–6 ordered scale, ranging from a value of 1 from high school dropouts to 6 for those holding a post-graduate degree. The immigrant origin variable is coded as follows: 1, parents and grandparents were born in the US; 2, parents were born in the US but at least one grandparent is an immigrant; and 3, at least one parent is an immigrant. The conservative ideology variable is coded on a 0–100 scale, with 0 for extremely liberal views and 100 for extremely conservative ones. The 3-point scale variable for party identification takes on a value of −1 for a Democrat, 0 for an Independent, and 1 for a Republican. The 7-point scale party id variable takes on values on the 1–7 range, with 1 for a strong Democrat to 7 for a strong Republican. Each of the network dummy equals 1 when the respondent declares that he most frequently watches the evening news broadcast on network x and 0 otherwise. CBS is the excluded network. The “no evening news” dummy equals 1 when the respondent declares that in the past week, he never watched a national evening news program and 0 otherwise. The count of stories on illegal immigration on the favorite evening news broadcast is the number of stories in 2005 where the expressions “illegal immigration” or “illegal immigrants” appear. Exploiting the Dow Jones Factiva archive, this is done for ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, PBS, and NBC. Population density (in tens of thousands) is calculated at the county level as the number of inhabitants by square mile in 2005. The state-specific fraction of illegal (and legal) immigrants is calculated for 2005 and is expressed in percentage points
  2. aSignificant at 1%;
  3. bsignificant at 5%;
  4. csignificant at 1%
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