The foreign factor mix? How experiences of UK elections shape immigrants’ political views (with Dr Odeyemi, T. I.)

The period in-between the 2019 and the 2024 elections witnessed one of the largest legal migratory influxes into the UK. Many young and middle-aged nationals, especially from Commonwealth countries, explored work or study visa provisioning as the UK’s net migration soared at unprecedented levels. The diverse implications of these for the immigrants and UK socio-economic life continue to feature in policy and theoretical debates.

However, the electoral implications remain a grey area with spaces for research exploration. One, immigrants arriving through the work or study routes represent some of the more knowledgeable and exposed segments of their own countries who can easily relate to politics at home and in the UK. Two, immigrants from Commonwealth countries – often with diverse political systems and democratic strength – can vote in all UK elections. This high potential for political efficacy raises questions about how the convergence-divergence dynamics of cultures and practices affect immigrants’ notions of electoral politics.

We therefore seek answers to a key question: how do pre-migration encounters with electoral politics shape immigrants' orientations toward UK elections, and how do the dynamics of UK elections affect their interpretations of politics in their home countries? More specifically: how do pre-migration worldviews about electoral politics influence immigrants’ interests in UK elections? What meanings do immigrants make of the dynamics and nature of UK elections? Finally, how do UK electoral processes shape immigrants’ views of electoral politics and its manifestation in their home countries? We deploy a mixed-method research approach, combining focus groups with surveys administered to a wider audience of immigrants from Commonwealth countries. Our study advances theoretical insights about how encounters with new (political) cultures shape overall orientations toward politics.