The language used by politicians to describe refugees can influence public sentiment towards them, new research has found. 

The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois, found that people are more likely to support stricter refugee policies when refugees are described as “potential terrorists”. 

But when described as “families fleeing violence,” support for restrictions drops, it found. 

The study, titled ‘Framing refugees: experimental evidence from the United States, Canada, and Australia’, and published in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, surveyed 9,800 people in the three countries. 

Researcher Assistant Professor Isabel Skinner said the study was aimed at measuring how different descriptions affected views on refugee policy.

“Despite efforts by leaders to link many issues to national security, it is important to remember that refugee resettlement and asylum are, at their core, humanitarian issues,” Prof Skinner said. 

 “In this study, we find that the public may be persuaded by humanitarian language, particularly in contexts such as the United States today, where that framing is less common,” she said. 

The study found that public opinion shifts depending on how the issue is framed. 

In the United States, politically moderate respondents were significantly more likely to support reducing refugee admissions after seeing a message that linked refugees to terrorism. 

When shown a message describing refugees as families fleeing violence, support for restrictions fell noticeably. 

In Canada, the threat-based message had an even stronger impact than in the United States. 

Australians, the study found were less susceptible to political rhetoric and showed smaller shifts, especially in response to the humanitarian message. 

Prof Skinner said political beliefs were also a major factor. 

“Conservatives in all three countries were more likely to support reducing refugee numbers. However, the humanitarian message led to slightly less support for restrictions among some right-leaning respondents, including Republicans in the United States and Australia’s Liberal-National Coalition,” she said. 

Prof Skinner said the findings mattered because refugee and asylum issues are often debated in highly political terms. 

“With record numbers of people displaced around the world, how leaders frame these issues could affect public support for refugee policies,” she said. 

Read full article: doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2025.2514201.