Support of non-citizen Suffrage in Germany: Framing Matters

Non-citizen suffrage is often regarded as a key frontier in contemporary voter enfranchisement, as electoral rights in many countries remain closely linked to citizenship despite a growing share of non-citizen residents. This is also the case in Germany, where national citizenship is a formal requirement for participation in major elections, including federal and state contests. This study contributes to the literature on non-citizen suffrage by examining the role of discursive frames in shaping political attitudes and highlighting variation in support across different population groups. A pre-registered survey experiment is used to examine whether discursive frames within political communication influence attitudes among German-born citizens, citizens with an indirect migration history, naturalised citizens, and non-citizen residents. To this end, each participant is randomly assigned to one of the framing conditions for evaluating whether one would support expanded voting rights for non-citizen residents. The analysis draws on data from an offline-recruited online panel (N ≈ 3,200) with an oversample of respondents with an immigrant background. Results indicate greater support for non-citizen voting rights when the framing emphasises residents’ contributions to society and the economy. Additionally, patterns of support vary across groups depending on the framing employed.