How Hot is the Melting Pot? Foreign-Born Participation in U.S. Elections

Abstract:     
Recently naturalized immigrants vote less frequently than natives. Does this difference diminish with time? We find that foreign-born and native voter turnout changes over time at the same rate, so this gap does not close. We also find that foreign-born voters who immigrated at different times vote with different likelihoods, with recent arrivals voting less than earlier arrivals. Combined, these two findings suggest that the foreign-born population is increasingly not represented by U.S. democracy.

Keywords: immigration, assimilation, voter turnout, political participation

JEL Classifications: D72, J61

Working Paper Series