This article examines how benefit competition influences voter attitudes toward immigrants' social rights. Rather than simply stating that increased benefits for immigrants negatively impacts native-born support, we analyze the nuanced relationship between income level and this political preference.

Methods

Our innovative approach tracks municipal-level changes in social housing allocation alongside shifts in public opinion across various income groups using individual-level panel data from the Netherlands.

Findings

We discover that middle-income voters respond most strongly to benefit competition, significantly reducing their support for immigrants' social rights when refugees receive more subsidized housing. Higher- and lower-income citizens show minimal change under these conditions.

This nuanced understanding reveals how specific institutional contexts shape political preferences regarding immigrant integration through material concerns rather than abstract principles.