Keywords: Political behavior, participation and culture

According to United Nations (UN) data, international migration has experienced a 49,1% growth between 2000 and 2017 (UN, 2017), increasing multiculturalism on a global scale and transforming the need for the coexistence of multiple cultures, traditions and ethnicities in a major challenge (Hall, 2000). Particularly in countries receiving migration, social conflicts associated with xenophobia and racism are emerging.

The studies report that one of the problems that afflict migrants is the prejudicial attitudes and social segregation they face in the countries that host them (Barceló, 2016; Igartua & Muñiz, 2004; Igartua, Muñiz, Otero, & De la Fuente, 2007; Van Dijk, 2001), an issue that impacts on social cohesion and democratic quality (Wright, 2011).

The attitudes of discrimination experienced by immigrants have led to numerous studies, whose empirical evidence indicates the influence of a number of individual variables on the level of xenophobia, such as educational level, nationalism and the perception of material and symbolic vulnerability (Weber , Pichler, 2010, Schneider, 2008). From the perspective of the group threat, in addition, studies show that in countries where dominant groups perceive a material or symbolic threat from exogenous groups, identifiable as different, attitudes of discrimination are greater (Pichler, 2010; , Quillian, 1995, Schneider, 2008, Schmidtke, 2012).

Chile is a favorable case for the analysis of this phenomenon. Its political and economic stability has transformed it into the country with the greatest increase in migratory flows in its entire region. In the last 12 years, the percentage of the migrant population has doubled with respect to the national population (Rojas & Silva, 2016, Pizarro et al, 2013). This rapid increase, the concentration of the migrant population in some cities, and the recent influx of racialized migratory flows (largely the indigenous population of Peru and Bolivia and Afro-descendants of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) have resulted in a public opinion discussion over how Chile is being “filled” with immigrants (Rojas & Silva, 2016; Etchegaray & Correa, 2015; Norambuena 2004; Doña 2001; Cárdenas 2006). In fact, the surveys indicate the systematic expansion of xenophobic opinions (eg Fundación Ideas, 1996, 2000, 2006).
Using data of the Chilean version of the Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP)–a representative survey conducted in Chile during 2017 in which 1,600 people were surveyed- we can see a statistic association between having a negative evaluation about the arrive of migrants and three different variables: 1) the evaluation of the economic situation; 2) political position (measure using the classic scale left-right) and 3) news consumption on internet and social media.

That is, rejection to migration could be explained by different reasons. First, the reaction of poorest groups of the population, that would see in the immigrants a labor and economic threat; second, a more ideological opposition by the segments more conservative in Chilean society, and, finally, the possible effects of selective exposure could explain the relation between online media and negative attitudes toward immigrants (a relation that is not observed when traditional media is analyzed).