Public Opinion and US Naturalization Decisions

Citizenship is one of the most important and politicized policy topics in democracies globally. Naturalization is an important element of democratic inclusion, as the process requires states and their citizens to accept immigrants as fellow citizens. American attitudes toward immigration, in particular, are well-established, with American citizens often favoring immigrants from culturally similar origins or those who hold high-status positions. Yet, little is known about Americans' preferences for naturalization or if they are reflected in broader naturalization policy outcomes. This article addresses this gap by examining Americans' evaluations of applicants for citizenship in the United States. We specifically expect Americans to evaluate applicants for citizenship in line with civic norms of national identity. We test this theory in an original conjoint experiment to isolate attitudes toward naturalization in the United States. We hypothesize that immigrants who demonstrate characteristics consistent with achievable concepts of American national identity are favored over those who do not possess such markers. We additionally expect the importance of socio-economic and ethnic attributes to vary by respondents' partisan identification. This study provides a nuanced understanding of the role different immigrant characteristics play in shaping American attitudes toward citizenship.