A Foot in Both Countries: Political Attitudes of First-generation Immigrants.

• In Event: Socialization, Learning, and Voter Turnout

Abstract

This paper unveils the relationship between the enfranchisement of citizens who are living-abroad and their political behavior, attitudes and beliefs. By combining existing cross-national surveys with data regarding the electoral institutions of the sending country of each immigrant and the geo-political conditions of the region of residence in the host country, the paper offers a unique insight into the political attitudes of those individuals who are caught between two polities and two political arenas. Those who live as first-generation immigrants follow the laws and pay taxes in one country, while potentially voting and participating as active citizens in a different one. We argue that the political attitudes of these individuals are shaped by the institutional and political “push" and “pulls" of the two countries (host and origin).

Author

• Chiara Superti, Columbia University