Normalizing far-right nativist policies: how source-message dissociation and negative immigration news reduce emotional discomfort and increase policy support

Far-right parties are often stigmatized in societies with strong anti-discrimination norms, yet their exclusionary nativist policies can attract broad public support. Drawing on minority influence theory, this research examined whether such support increases when nativist policies are dissociated from far-right parties and presented in a media context shaped by negative immigration news. Across five experiments in Switzerland (N = 1,423), participants evaluated a nativist policy either associated or not with a far-right party, following exposure to positive or neutral/negative immigration news. Results showed that dissociating the policy from the far right reduced emotional discomfort and increased support—particularly under neutral or negative news conditions, but not under positive news. These findings suggest that negative immigration news helps normalize nativist policies.