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To understand how public perceptions toward out-groups such as immigrants develop, it is useful to explore how interaction with out-groups can affect attitudes which may reflect public opinion toward immigration. Recent research suggests that views on immigration policy are influenced not only by racial prejudice, but also by the racial construction of a respondent's area of residence. To build on this work, we analyze the impact of an individual's perceived interaction with diverse groups on their attitudes toward immigration. We use respondent's estimates of the proportions of minorities in the neighborhood instead of the government's estimates of minority presence measured through census data to test the potential differences. Specifically, we assess the significance of Fezter's theory that (strong social ties) romantic relationships and (weak social ties) community interaction will impact attitudes differently (2000). Using quantitative analysis of previously collected survey data we analyze the impact that the inclusion of contact measures has on attitudes as well as how this shifts the impact of other previously significant factors such as demographic, economic and political characteristics. Our findings show how community-level interaction with diverse groups encourages support for immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we make several original contributions to the literature on attitudes towards immigration. We apply theories about the role that cultural affinity, economic self-interest, and political orientation play on attitudes, to Canada. In addition, we assess whether attitudinal determinants are consistent across years, regions and cities. The study is based on analyses of an original dataset consisting of seventeen waves of Gallup data collected between 1975 and 2000. Contrary to much of the literature that supports the economic self-interest model, we find that for Canada, cultural affinity and political orientation are more important. In addition, we find that while some indicators of cultural affinity (education and first language) matter uniformly across time and place, this is not the case for other key characteristics such political orientation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]