Permanently excluding certain societal groups from political decision-making processes can undermine democracy and foster political alienation. International migration has created a growing gap between citizens and residents, disenfranchising many permanent residents. Thus, a central issue in societies shaped by immigration is whether to extend voting rights to all residents, regardless of citizenship. In Germany, only EU citizens are currently enfranchised, and then only at the local level. While there have been normative and legal debates on the possibility of noncitizen voting, little is known about public attitudes toward extending voting rights to noncitizens. This study uses data from the 2024 German GESIS Panel to examine citizens’ attitudes toward noncitizen voting based on both their individual characteristics and the institutional design of noncitizen voting.
