Blair Center Releases First Report From 2016 Poll, Tackles Immigration Politics

The Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics & Society in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences recently released the first report from its 2016 Blair Center Poll.

The report, "Intersections of Region and Race: Divided Opinions on 'Building a Wall,' Immigration Politics and Policy in the South," by Xavier Medina Vidal, goes beyond campaign rhetoric to unpack the views that white, black and Latino southern respondents have on this pressing policy issue.

"Through the Blair Center Poll data we're able to look at and talk about policy preferences, race and identity in the South in ways that other polling data cannot," said Medina Vidal, assistant professor of political science and the Diane D. Blair Professor of Latino Studies. "We can explore the impact demographic change in the region and the nation has on the public's preferences on immigration policy and other critical topics."

Over the next few months, faculty experts including Medina Vidal, Pearl K. Dowe, Angie Maxwell and Fulbright College dean, Todd Shields, will continue to go beyond stereotypes to compile poll respondents' thoughts into reports on additional timely topics like modern sexism, racial polarization and more. 

Maxwell, director of the Blair Center, said these reports are based on the most recent 2016 Blair Center Poll which was conducted immediately following the November presidential elections.

The Blair Center Poll is a comprehensive poll of national attitudes regarding politics and public policy, with a special focus on the American South. It includes an oversample of white, black and Latino people living in the former states of the Confederate South and in the continental non-south, which makes it, consequently, the only rigorous academic survey with a specific focus on this region and these communities that are often underrepresented in public opinion research, Maxwell noted.

"The mission of the Blair Center is to get beyond stereotypes and to analyze the real South in all of its complexity," said Maxwell, who is also an associate professor of political science. "And our team of experts will be looking at the poll responses from an interdisciplinary lens, combining political science with cultural commentary for academic work that goes further than traditional southern studies research."

For more updates about the poll, visit the Blair Center website.