The Effect of Simultaneous Proposals: The Case of Immigrant Enfranchisement

Klaudia Wegschaider

doi:10.1177/00104140251328017

The Effect of Simultaneous Proposals: The Case of Immigrant Enfranchisement

Klaudia Wegschaider

Institut für Staatswissenschaft

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift › Artikel › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Is voting behaviour in referendums impacted by having similar proposals on the same topic? Drawing on the literature on the compromise effect, I argue that support for a proposal is higher if it is presented alongside a more extreme version. Empirically, I apply this argument to the substantive topic of electoral rights for immigrants—a contemporary frontier of democratisation. First, I test the argument with an original survey experiment fielded in the United States. Second, I delve into the practical relevance of the topic by focusing on Swiss immigrant enfranchisement referendums. Two case studies complement a subsequent analysis of voting data. The results of the experiment and the observational analysis both support the idea that the compromise effect shapes voting behaviour in simultaneous referendums. These findings call on scholars to consider the compromise effect in the study of popular votes and political decision-making more generally.

Originalsprache	Englisch
Seiten (von - bis)	439-470
Seitenumfang	32
Fachzeitschrift	Comparative Political Studies
Jahrgang	59
Ausgabenummer	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140251328017
Publikationsstatus	Veröffentlicht - Feb. 2026

Fördermittel

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Swiss nccr - on the move (51NF40-182897), Pembroke College, the Nuffield Centre for Experimental Social Sciences, and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Swiss (51NF40-182897), Pembroke College, the Nuffield Centre for Experimental Social Sciences, and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. I am grateful to Christopher Wratil, Florian S. Schaffner, Alyssa Taylor, John Holbein, Noah Bacine, Giovanni Capoccia, Samuel Schmid, Lukas Stoetzer, Guillermo Kreiman, Raquel Chanto, Joanne Haddad, Moritz Marbach, Matias Lopez, Konstantinos Matakos, the anonymous reviewers, and the seminar participants at the University of Vienna, the European University Institute, the University of Oxford, Yale University, the EPSA Conference panel, the APSA Conference panel, the NCCR Graduate Conference panel, the EuroWEPS workshop, and the OX|BER workshop for their helpful feedback. This research would not have been possible without the generous funding by the Swissnccr-on-the-movenetwork, Pembroke College, the Nuffield Centre for Experimental Social Sciences, and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford.

UN SDGs

Dieser Output leistet einen Beitrag zu folgendem(n) Ziel(en) für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 10 – Weniger Ungleichheiten
SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

ÖFOS 2012

506016 Migrationspolitik
506019 Demokratieforschung

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10.1177/00104140251328017

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The Effect of Simultaneous Proposals: The Case of Immigrant Enfranchisement

Abstract

Fördermittel

UN SDGs

ÖFOS 2012

Zugriff auf Dokument

Andere Dateien und Links

Fingerprint

Zitationsweisen