Summary of Work Package 9
February 27, 2020
Report
This document summarises the key findings from Work Package 9 (WP9) of the REMINDER project. Work Package 9 explored public opinion toward free movement in seven European countries. It also examined how exposure to specific types of content and narratives about migration (identified in WP8) affects individuals’ attitudes toward and perceptions of intra-EU mobility. A three-wave panel survey and a survey experiment were administered in seven core case study countries: the UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, Romania and Poland. The analyses show that attitudes toward free movement are strongly associated with support for the EU. Further, those attitudes are highly stable over time. We do find media effects on attitudes toward free movement, they are however rather small. Furthermore, the results suggest that there are cross-national variations in media effects. Yet, there is indication that the salience of migration-related news and whether this news is positive or negative affects free movement attitudes.
