Americans preferred Syrian refugees who are female, English-speaking, and Christian on the eve of Donald Trump's election.

摘要: What types of refugees do Americans prefer for admission into the United States? Scholars have explored immigrant characteristics that appeal to and Europeans prioritize in asylum-seekers, but we currently not know which refugee prefer. We conduct a conjoint experiment on representative sample 1800 US adults, manipulating attributes pairs Syrian profiles, ask respondents rate each refugee's appeal. Our focus 2016 survey allows us speak concurrent crisis eve polarizing election, while also identifying religious discrimination, holding constant national origin. find who are female, high-skilled, English-speaking, Christian, suggesting they integration U.S. labor cultural markets. preference female is driven by desire exclude Muslim male refugees, casting doubt American preferences at time were motivated security concerns. Finally, anti-Muslim bias varies magnitude across key subgroups, though it prevails all demographics.