# Immigrants Assimilate into the Political Mainstream 

January 19, 2017 • Economic Development Bulletin No. 27 

By [Alex Nowrasteh](https://www.cato.org/people/alex-nowrasteh) and Sam Wilson 

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Immigrants could shift public policy if their opinions differ from those of other Americans.1 Our earlier research found that immigrants and native-born Americans have ideological, political, and public policy opinions that differ to a statistically insignificant extent.2 In this report we further separate immigrant political and policy opinions by citizenship status. Noncitizen immigrants *cannot* vote but their political opinions are mostly similar to those of natives. However, naturalized citizen-immigrants who can vote have political opinions even closer to those of natives and are near-fully assimilated into the political mainstream.

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##### Immigrants Assimilate into the Political Mainstream 

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##### About the Authors 

[Alex Nowrasteh](http://www.cato.org/people/alex-nowrasteh) is an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. Sam Wilson is a PhD student in economics at George Mason University. 

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