Democratic Passport or Authoritarian Baggage? A Global Study of Migrants’ Political Regime Preferences

History has shown that migration can shape the political culture of both destination and origin countries, whether through the influence of pioneering settlers or global diasporas. Most studies have focused either on the political participation of migrants or on “political remittances”, i.e., the effects of migration on the political attitudes and behaviors of sending communities. By contrast, research comparing the political regime preferences of migrants themselves to those of both origin country compatriots and destination country natives are lacking. Depending on their level of commitment to a democratic political system, migrants can be a force for democratization or, conversely, autocratization. On one hand, research suggests that the emigration of liberal-minded citizens is associated with democratic backsliding in origin countries (Auer and Schaub, 2024). On the other hand, there are concerns that migrants socialized under authoritarian regimes may have trouble learning and adapting to democratic norms and practices (Bilodeau et al., 2010). Using data from the 7th Wave (2017-2022) of the World Values Survey conducted in over 60 countries, this study investigates whether international migrants and persons of migrant origin show a stronger (or weaker) commitment to living under a democratic political system than non-migrants in both origin and destination countries. It argues that the difference between migrants and non-migrants depends on the political regime type (i.e. democracy vs. autocracy) of the country of origin and the country of destination and on the socio-economic status of migrants relative to non-migrants. It improves on standard measures of support for democracy by developing a continuous variable that ranges from exclusive support for non-democratic systems (e.g., autocracy or military junta) to exclusive support for a democratic system, with mixed preferences in between. Preliminary analyses demonstrate that migrants (born abroad) and migrant-origin persons (at least one parent born abroad) both express greater support for a democratic political system than non-migrants from the same origin country. While migrants express slightly less support for a democratic system than destination country natives, migrant-origin persons express slightly more support for a democratic system than destination-country natives.