The political life cycle and electoral mobilisation among immigrant-origin and native citizens during the 2021 German election

In many European countries, voters of immigrant origin show lower levels of electoral mobilisation than native voters. This article presents a novel and probability-based panel survey conducted during the 2021 Bundestag election campaign in Duisburg, a major German city, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey includes both immigrant-origin and native German citizens and additional contextual data from respondents’ countries of origin, administrative city boroughs and the election campaign. Three core indicators of electoral mobilisation are examined: political interest, propensity to vote and perceived ease of voting. The article traces group differences between immigrant-origin and native voters across three phases of the political life cycle: during the time of politically coming of age, resource accumulation (through education and employment), and pre-election mobilisation. The findings highlight persistent gaps in mobilisation between immigrant-origin and native voters with the former being disadvantaged at all three phases, and call for a theoretical framework that integrates voters of all backgrounds, rather than treating immigrant-origin voters as an exceptional case.