Understanding the ‘Pink’ vote in Aotearoa

Abstract

There is little written on how gay men engage in the electoral process, and this lack of data extends to New Zealand. When speaking to peers about this topic, it was the widely held view that gay men support the Labour Party, as there has been a historic level of support for the queer community from the Labour Party. This study takes a mixed method approach to answer the dual research questions: which political parties do gay men in New Zealand vote for, and why do they vote for those parties? By using data from the New Zealand Values and Attitudes Survey, and the New Zealand Election Survey, this thesis shows a broad picture of how gay men vote. Interviews in Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin are used to expand on this, and to understand why gay men in New Zealand vote, and why they vote the way they do. Three theories of voting predictions are used to analyse this data: proximity theory, social structure theory, and rational choice theory. The results of the interviews and data analysis shows that, despite the assumption that gay men support the Labour Party, the majority of gay men in New Zealand vote for a diverse range of left-wing parties, and vote for parties that most closely align with their own values. Gay men were also driven to vote out of a sense of civic duty. Despite a small sample size, this thesis is a first-step in filling an academic gap in the electoral participation of queer people.