This study looks at the intergenerational transmission of political participation and investigates which parents are most successful in transmitting such participation. Using data from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), our multilevel analyses show that both mothers and fathers significantly influence their children’s levels of (anticipated) participation in polls and political activism. Yet, the effect seems somewhat stronger for voting frequency compared with political activism, and mothers seem to be slightly more successful in transmitting their voting pattern compared with fathers. Interaction models reveal that parental influence on voting does not depend on parental educational level. Yet, higher levels of education – both of their own and within the family – increase the effect of mothers’ engagement in political activism on their offspring’s anticipated activism. Fathers are more likely to influence their offspring’s anticipated activism if they have a higher level of education compared with their partner. These different effects of parents’ pattern of political activism according to different measures of their levels of education have important implications for our understanding of political socialization and participation.
