Migration to Austria - A study on the cultural differentiation of immigrants and its effects on right-wing voting

Countries in which immigration has risen, experience increasing vote shares for anti-immigration parties. Researchers argue that the occurrence is attributable to the mere presence of immigrants in the municipalities whereas others put focus on the potential labor market effects of immigrants causing more support for anti-immigration parties. In the paper at hand, I investigate the effect of immigration on the vote share of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) in the general elections between 2002 and 2017 in Austria. The focus lies on the similarity of the cultural belief and value system between Austria and the immigrants’ origin nations. I hypothesize that the influx of immigrants from culturally similar countries negatively affect the electoral outcome of the FPÖ while immigration from culturally different countries has a positive effect on it. I found evidence supporting the latter hypothesis, predicting a positive correlation between culturally different immigration and the success of the FPÖ. Nevertheless, no effects of culturally similar immigration are found. Nevertheless, a post-shock DiD analysis of the refugee crisis beginning in 2015 shows that the FPÖ vote share is increasing independently of the incoming migrants and the cultural similarity between Austria and the origin country. Therefore, I argue that the suggestive, preexisting correlation between immigration and voting outcome was potentially abolished by the immigration shock in the crisis periods. Finally, results suggest that the pro-immigration parties of Austria are significantly correlated in the reverse direction of the hypotheses regarding the FPÖ: positively by culturally similar immigration and negatively by culturally different immigration