The salience of immigration issues has an activating effect on national identities, and the effect is particularly strong for those with exclusionary conceptions who vote for the far right. 4/

Both parties on the left and on the right benefit from the increased importance of national identities through migration debates, if they offer policies that fit in with the voters’ ideas of nationhood. 3/

National identities that are usually not politically salient can be activated for political behaviour: far-right parties gain among voters with exclusionary notions of the national in-group, with increased media presence of immigration activating these voters to switch to the far-right AfD. 2/