“Restrict foreigners, not robots”: Partisan responses to automation threat

Recent scholarship on technological change highlights its negative impacts employment and wages. However, a decade of nationally representative surveys show that Americans hold favorable views toward technology despite concerns over labor displacement. How do people cope with threats from trend they consider desirable? Using survey experiment, this paper argues opt to buffer domestic workers substitute policies against outgroups believe could improve wages prospects. Specifically, direct cues about displacement make Republicans more likely demand tighter restrictions immigration Democrats support higher tariffs. In other words, citizens respond automation anxiety by blaming penalizing groups unwelcome or objectionable, depending their partisanship. Respondents remained reluctant express for restrictions. Thus, may intensify resistance globalization, but not necessarily technology.