Most European countries have a history of some intermingling between religion and politics. The religious-secular cleavage in Lipset and Rokkan’s (1967) framework explains the formation of religious (Christian) parties in some countries, and may explain why people vote for either religious or secular political parties. Although European societies may have moved in a secular direction in recent decades, there is still an element of religious voting in many countries, even the most secular ones.
As native populations have grown increasingly secular, immigration has changed the religious landscape of Europe. Immigrants bring with them a greater variety of religious beliefs, and on average, immigrants tend to be more religiously active than the native populations of Europe.
Immigrants and their descendants constitute a large and rising share of the electorate in these countries. A change in the relationship between religion and politics could therefore potentially be underway. Based on this, we ask in this paper: 1) Do immigrants and their descendants engage in religious voting? If so, 2) what is the nature of religious voting when it comes to immigrants and their descendants, and how does that compare to native populations?
Our analysis of the 2017 Norwegian Immigrant Election Study reveals stark differences in the voting patterns of Muslim, Christian and secular voters with immigrant backgrounds. Muslim voters tend to vote for parties on the center-left, especially the Norwegian Labor Party. Christians are more likely to vote for parties on the center-right, similarly to religiously active native voters. Secular voters with an immigrant background are overrepresented among voters for the center-left. Some of these differences can be explained by differences in social class and other background variables, but substantial differences remain even after these controls.
A further exploration of these findings indicates that the strikingly unitary voting pattern of Muslim voters is not necessarily motivated by religion or religious beliefs. The term “religious voting” may therefore not apply to that group. Immigrants who are active members of a Christian church have voting patterns that are similar to native voters, and do to a greater extent fit the profile of a religious voter.
In sum, immigration does lead to changes in the religious landscape of many European countries, and immigrants constitute a large share of the electorate that have an effect on election outcomes, but despite this, immigration has not led to a fundamental change in the nature of religious voting.
