Beyond Naturalization: When and Why Citizens Support Non-Citizen Voting Rights

When do citizens grant non-citizens the right to vote? And how do citizens' attitudes towards the right to vote differ from other rights? Faced with rising levels of immigration, pressure on democracies to politically include non-citizens within their population is increasing. Besides more well-studied ways, such as voting from abroad (e.g., Wellman 2021) and naturalisation (e.g. Hainmueller et al. 2017, an alternative avenue to the political integration of migrants is granting voting rights to non-citizen residents. However, little is known about the conditions under which the public would support such a measure. This article presents novel survey evidence from the UK collected with YouGov on the conditions under which citizens are willing to grant non-citizens the right to vote in local or general elections. It explores when citizens are willing to give non-citizens voting rights even before they have applied for citizenship and further compares these attitudes with public opinion on conditions of deservingness for other rights, like the right of non-citizens to access healthcare, the labour market or social benefits. The findings of this study contribute to research on challenges to the existing framework of citizenship and its dynamics with other key policies. The study's results may inform policymakers on the conditions under which the public would support granting non-citizens voting rights and how to balance these rights with other considerations.