  Political orientation polarizes the attitudes of more educated individuals on
controversial issues. A highly controversial issue in Europe is immigration. We
found the same polarizing pattern for opinion toward immigration in a
representative sample of citizens of a southern European middle-size city.
Citizens with higher numeracy, scientific and economic literacy presented a
more polarized view of immigration, depending on their worldview orientation.
Highly knowledgeable individuals endorsing an egalitarian-communitarian
worldview were more in favor of immigration, whereas highly knowledgeable
individuals with a hierarchical-individualist worldview were less in favor of
immigration. Those low in numerical, economic, and scientific literacy did not
show a polarized attitude. Results highlight the central role of
socio-political orientation over information theories in shaping attitudes
toward immigration.
