Authors
Lucy J Cowie, Lara M Greaves, Chris G Sibley
Publication date
2015/3/1
Journal
New Zealand Journal of Psychology
Volume
44
Issue
1
Pages
45-59
Publisher
New Zealand Psychological Society
Description
The Green Party experienced unprecedented support in the 2011 New Zealand General Election. However, people may vote Green for very different reasons. The Green voter base is thus likely to be comprised of a number of distinct subpopulations. We employ Latent Profile Analysis to uncover subgroups within the Green voter base (n= 1,663) using data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study at Time Four (2012). We delineate subgroups based on variation in attitudes about the environment, equality, wealth, social justice, climate change, and biculturalism. Core Green Liberals (56% of Green voters) showed strong support across all ideological/value domains except wealth, while Green Dissonants (4%) valued the environment and believed in anthropogenic climate change, but were low across other domains. Ambivalent Biculturalists (20%) expressed strong support for biculturalism and weak support for social justice and equality. Greens in Principle (20%) supported equality and social justice, but were less supportive of biculturalism. Our study identifies points of convergence (such as environmental values) and crux values that represent points of divergence (such as valuing social justice and Māori rights) across distinct subpopulations of Green voters. These results highlight the diversity of the Green voter base and identify different crux points the Green Party must manage in order to maintain and grow their diverse voter base.
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