Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: El Salvador has the most popular president in Latin America, even as Salvadorans continue to migrate to the United States in high numbers. While emigration can serve as a safety valve that benefits incumbents, it also reflects a rejection of the status quo, producing a signal that negatively affects presidential popularity. This paper uses a survey of a nationally represented sample of Salvadorans with an embedded experiment. Respondents are primed on the number of apprehensions of Salvadorans attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, which highlights the costly decision to leave El Salvador. The survey results show that emigration reduces presidential approval and generates pessimism about the status quo. Information about migrant apprehensions also negatively affects prospective outlooks over one’s personal economy. The study underscores how emigration can negatively affect incumbents despite the long-term political and economic benefits emigration may bring.
DOI: 10.14201/rlop.31820
Author: Jesse Acevedo
Institution: University of Denver
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4404836488