Immigration on the ballot: The impact of immigrant presence on support for the far-right in the Netherlands

This thesis studies the impact of migrant presence on far-right voting behaviour in the Netherlands. This is done using a series of panel data regressions, including both regional and year fixed-effects. Data on immigrant presence and voting behaviour is on the municipal level and spans five election years, from 2003 up to 2017. It is found that the presence of non-western migrants is positively related to the share of votes going towards extreme-right wing parties in the Netherlands. This effect is less pronounced in smaller municipalities, which lends some support to the contact theory. Further, support is found for the negative relationship being caused by concerns over compositional amenities and concerns over labour market competition, which lends support to the context theory.