Migrants and their families in the home country: a bi-directional influence on voting behaviour

ABSTRACT

The voting behaviour of migrants has been studied extensively but limited attention has been paid to how the discussion with families in the home country can be important. This article analyzes under what circumstances migrants influence or are influenced by their families in voting decisions. The analysis uses individual-level data from a survey conducted in 2018 on a sample of 1,839 Romanian migrants. The results indicate that most migrants are not engaged in acts of persuasion about voting. Those who influence their families have a direct interest in the election results, are informed about what happens in the country and are politically active. The migrants who are influenced by their families have limited experience in the countries of residence and strong ties to their home country.

KEYWORDS:

• Migrants
• voting
• elections
• home country
• influence
• Romania

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marius Grad

Marius Grad is a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of History and Philosophy, Babeş-Bolyai University. His publications and research focus on international relations, security, democratization, political marketing and elections.

Sergiu Gherghina

Sergiu Gherghina is a Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the Department of Politics, University of Glasgow. His research interests lie in party politics in new democracies (with an emphasis on party organization, recruitment and mobilization), legislative and voting behaviour and democratization.

Adrian Ivan

Adrian Ivan is a Professor of international Relations at the ‘Mihai Viteazul’ National Intelligence Academy. His areas of research and expertise are international relations and security studies, national and ethnic minorities in the international relations, security policy analysis, and European and international governance.