Transnational parents, uncertainty and anti-system political preferences

Migration is a defining phenomena of today's world and with it one of the main changes that is brought about is a change in family life, with the transnationalization of family life. Parents become transnational parents who continue to be a part of their children's life, while dealing with uncertain life scenarios they face as migrants. They also continue to act as political actors who vote in their country's elections. I focus on the political preferences of Romanian transnational parents in the UK and Germany and document their experience using a set of ten in-depth interviews carried out in 2021-2022. I argue that the uncertainty they experience relative to their family life and integration in the community impacts their voting preferences. Observing practices of transnational parenthood allows for the creation of patterns of political preferences of transnational parents. I consider the extent to which this is found in the wider migrant population and implications for different categories of transnational parents.