Political socialisation and immigrants’ support for progressive politics: the case of green parties

Progressive parties often advocate pro-immigration policies but do not attract equal support from all immigrant groups. Why is this the case?

Our Assistant Professor in European Politics Dr António Valentim has co-authored a new paper in Political Science Research and Methods with Dr Korinna O. Lindemann, which examines immigrants’ support for progressive/green parties, showing how the regime they were socialised in and which issues were salient matters for party support after migration.

Abstract

"Progressive parties often advocate pro-immigration policies but do not attract equal support from all immigrant groups. Why is this the case? This study examines immigrants’ support for green parties, a key progressive party family in Western Europe. Our findings reveal that immigrants from established democracies are more likely to support green parties compared to those from (post-)authoritarian regimes. We attribute this disparity to socialization: Individuals from established democracies, where post-materialist values and environmental politics are more prominent, are more attuned to green issues. This heightened salience influences their political preferences after migration. Using entropy balancing on cross-national European surveys, we document this green support gap and provide evidence for our proposed mechanism. These results inform debates on how political preferences travel across contexts and the socialization effects of political institutions."