Europeans' support for refugees of varying background is stable over time

This paper investigates whether repeated humanitarian crises in Europe affect public support for refugees. Using repeat conjoint experiments during the 2015–2016 and 2022 refugee crises with 33,000 citizens in 15 European countries, the study finds that public preferences for asylum seekers with specific attributes have remained remarkably stable, and overall support has slightly increased. While Ukrainian asylum seekers were welcomed in 2022, this did not diminish support for other marginalized refugee groups. The findings highlight the resilience of public attitudes towards refugees and have implications for policymakers.

Kirk Bansak, Jens Hainmueller, Dominik Hangartner