I think we can be more precise here: they don’t like massive, uncontrolled immigration of low-skilled workers. The most vulnerable part of the population fears that they might lose wages, because the low-skilled immigrants would do their same job for a lower salary.
Nobody is against to highly trained, well-educated, rich immigrants (or nobody I’ve spoken to apparently).
Ever heard of brain waste? That's the paradoxical situation that rises up when skilled workers can not get the qualifications necessary to practice their job in their new country of residence. That's how you get doctors and nuclear engineers driving taxis.
Not really sure what the point of the article is as it seems pretty dumb. The answer is simple; it’s the economy, stupid.
People who are prospering don’t have much negative feelings about immigration or the homeless or drug addicts or any “them” in the “us vs them” dichotomy. People who are not are more anxious and stressed and feel uncertain about their own place. People in such condition have no capacity to welcome others they feel are competing with them on whatever little resources there is to share. It wasn’t long ago that people in cities villainized and hated rural migration into the cities within the same country. As wealth and prosperity increased in the cities those feelings dissipated.
The elephant in the room that this doesn't address is racism. In the West expressions of racism are illegal or at least strongly condemned, so we are left guessing as to how it factors in far-right vote.
We can't rely on "what voters say" like the OP suggests, because for some of them what they want to say is forbidden so they say other things instead.
> Some people took that as proof that the voters’ real grievances lay elsewhere. The economist Tony Annett even put the AfD’s gains down to rising inequality, austerity and the loss of cheap Russian energy.
I guess Texans are suddenly in favor of immigration, when 2 years ago they hated immigration.
Nobody is against to highly trained, well-educated, rich immigrants (or nobody I’ve spoken to apparently).
People who are prospering don’t have much negative feelings about immigration or the homeless or drug addicts or any “them” in the “us vs them” dichotomy. People who are not are more anxious and stressed and feel uncertain about their own place. People in such condition have no capacity to welcome others they feel are competing with them on whatever little resources there is to share. It wasn’t long ago that people in cities villainized and hated rural migration into the cities within the same country. As wealth and prosperity increased in the cities those feelings dissipated.
Of course people don't like change.
Consider though that we are all descendants of immigrants.
How would you want your descendant immigrants to be treated?
I'd say that depends on whether people are happy with their circumstances.
We can't rely on "what voters say" like the OP suggests, because for some of them what they want to say is forbidden so they say other things instead.
I guess Texans are suddenly in favor of immigration, when 2 years ago they hated immigration.