Unwelcome neighbors: Poverty and anti-immigrant sentiment in Morocco

Drawing on data from Rounds 7-10 of the Afrobarometer survey, conducted in Morocco between 2018 and 2024 (n = 4,800), this study examines the relationship between lived poverty and attitudes toward immigrants and foreign workers. Lived poverty is measured using an index that combines the frequency with which respondents and their household members lacked basic necessities such as food, water, medical care, cooking fuel, and cash income. Hostility is measured using responses to an item asking about respondents' willingness to have immigrants and foreign workers as neighbors, with answers recorded on a five-point Likert scale ranging from "strongly like" to "strongly dislike." Regression analyses reveal that higher levels of poverty are associated with greater reluctance to have immigrants as neighbors. These findings suggest that economic vulnerability may heighten perceived intergroup competition, which in turn could lead to anti-immigrant sentiment. By focusing on Morocco, a key node in North-South migration flows, this study contributes to broader debates on how structural inequality shapes public opinion toward migrants in the Global South.