Enfranchising immigrants and/or emigrants? Attitudes towards voting rights expansion among sedentary nationals in Europe.

Normative debates and comparative studies on voting rights regulations are lively. However, little is known on what citizens think of enfranchising migrants. This paper starts to fill this gap. We conducted an original survey in 26 European countries (n = 16,555). In most countries, an (often narrow) majority of sedentary nationals supports enfranchising emigrants. In all countries, no majority favours the enfranchisement of immigrants, although falling short of a majority in several cases. Being a woman, a bi-national citizen, but also younger, and leaning to the political left is associated with higher support for enfranchising immigrants. However, no individual-level characteristics, apart from age, is associated with the support for enfranchising emigrants. An exclusive national identity is associated not only with lower support for enfranchising immigrants but for emigrants, as well. Furthermore, larger relative sizes of immigrant population fuel support for enfranchisement of this group – up to a certain level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]