ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the fact that floor votes represent the tail-end of a political process that has already selected for how policy choice is framed and by whom, which in turn shapes the number and types of bills that are introduced, their prospects of surviving committee review, and the likelihood of a successful floor vote. Partisan differences narrow even more when accounting for the demographic characteristics of immigration across states. For Democratic state legislators, the probability of casting a restrictionist vote always remained below 50 percent, regardless of the share of voting-eligible Latinos and Asians. By contrast, Republican state legislators were likely to favor restriction until the share of Latino and Asian voters rose to approximately 35 percent of the voting-age population in their district. The findings suggest that Democratic and Republican state legislators largely voted in accord with their individual beliefs and predispositions, with ideological conservatism inclining legislators from both parties toward restriction.
