Opinione pubblica, elezioni locali e immigrazione

[Machine translation] In the Italian political debate of recent years, the issue of immigration has occupied a central position. Intertwined with economic issues and the problem of terrorism, it has, in fact, monopolized the attention of public opinion, managing to remain constantly on the public agenda both thanks to the media attention aroused by some particularly catastrophic events and because of the instrumental use that such events have been made by the main political actors. Certainly, the economic crisis that has affected and continues to affect many Italian families and the bloody terrorist attacks that occurred in various European countries have helped to change the definition of the problem, changing its meanings in part. This chapter of the Report seeks to explore the issue of migration from the point of view of local politics and policies. In the first part, data and interpretations on the orientations of European and Italian public opinion will be reported. In the second, we will analyze the offer of migration policies that party actors formulated during the electoral campaigns for the local elections of 2016. To this end, the main electoral programs presented in the month of May for the municipal elections of four major Italian cities will be examined: Milan, Turin, Rome and Naples.