ABSTRACT Welfare chauvinism, the support for a strong welfare state provided that eligibility is restricted to the native‐born, is a widely studied concept in the literature on the European welfare state. While the study of welfare politics in the US has begun to incorporate immigration as a key factor in welfare attitudes, it has not considered the complete welfare chauvinism pattern including enhanced support for social programs that exclude immigrants from eligibility. Using a pre‐registered survey experiment fielded on the 2023 Cooperative Election Study, I test for welfare chauvinism in support for hypothetical congressional candidates. Contrary to the welfare chauvinism hypotheses, support for both expanded welfare benefits and immigrant eligibility restrictions did not have a synergistic effect on candidate support among respondents in general, among less educated respondents, or among ideological conservatives. I find much stronger support for a hypothesis based on traditional “left–right” ideology. Related Articles Wagle, U. R. 2013. “The Heterogeneity Politics of the Welfare State: Changing Population Heterogeneity and Welfare State Policies in High‐Income OECD Countries, 1980‐2005.” Politics & Policy 41, no. 6: 947–984. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12053 . Butz, A. M. and J. E Kehrberg. 2015. “Social Distrust and Immigrant Access to Welfare Programs in the American States.” Politics & Policy 43, no. 2: 256–286. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12115 . Luypaert, A. and P. Thijssen. 2024. “The Comparative Politics of Solidarity: Political Party Discourse across Three Welfare State Regimes.” Politics & Policy 52, no. 5: 935–962. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12625 .
Jake Haselswerdt (Sun,) studied this question.