What is the Best Way to Measure Anti-Immigrant Sentiments?

Abstract While anti-immigrant sentiments have a profound political influence, there is no consensus on a measurement scale for this attitude. Not only are there theoretical differences on what exactly determines anti-immigrant sentiments, we can also observe differences in measurement scales. Two of the largest available comparative data projects use different scales: while the European Social Survey ( ESS ) uses 0–10 measurement scales, the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems ( CSES ) relies on balanced 1–5 Likert items. In this article the authors report on a unique survey experiment in Belgium, where both instruments were included in the same questionnaire. While the two instruments correlate only 0.72, they show exactly the same pattern, both with regard to determinants of, as with regard to consequences of anti-immigrant sentiments. The authors conclude that anti-immigrant sentiments are such a highly salient and amalgamated issue in contemporary society, that theoretically relevant distinctions are no longer observed empirically in a population survey.