New Zealand 2017 Election – The Influence of Voters’ Social-Economic Status on the Party Choice
Authors: Wangina Norris 
Published: February 2022

<p>A
considerable amount of literature has been published about election studies
around the world. An area that interests
many scholars in those studies is the influence of voters’ social-economic
status on the party of choice they voted for in elections (Coffe, Voweles & Curtin, 2014).
Therefore, this research intends to identify if the social-economic status of
voters influenced their voted choice of party in New Zealand’s 2017 election. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>It is significant to
conduct this study because all political parties present themselves as
universal with policies that are beneficial to all citizens (Afnoso, 2016).
However, an increasing gap between the rich and the poor should question those
policies. It should concern the government, the bureaucrats, and the public because
it can affect the social, political, and economic participation of disadvantage
groups (Szewczyk,
2015). And because inequality affects all spheres of
life, it can influence voters’ party choices. The party choice is so
significant because it is the party with the majority of candidates that
eventually forms the government and which decides on all of the country’s
affairs which will affect every individual citizen and future generations too. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Because
of its significance, much research has been conducted in different countries to
identify the influence that voters’ social-economic status has on their party
choice. For example, Winters et al. (2017) conducted a related study in Britain, Pietsch (2017) in Australia
and Suryanarayan (2018) in
India and they discovered that there was strong
correlation between the social economic status of voters and their party
choice. However, a comparable study conducted in the United States by Gelman,
Kenworthy and Su (2010) found that there was no clear pattern of relationship
between voters’ social economic status and their party choice. Gelman et al. (2010) suggest that the
influence must be due to other factors such as religion, education, or gender.
In New Zealand, Coffe et al.
(2014) conducted similar research and found
that inequality does affect the party choice of voters and is a significant
issue to be addressed. The inequality factors include income inequality, gender
inequality, and inequality in the status of other minority groups. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Because
gender inequality exists just like income inequality, the probability of gender
inequality influencing an election outcome is also high. Coffe et al (2014)
explain that it is the support of equality that was widely accepted, giving
rise to gender equality rights, income equality rights and the equality and
respect for minority groups. Even today, these groups still demand more
recognition from the state and the desire of achieving their demands can
influence their party choices. Therefore, this research tries to establish the
relationship between voters’ social-economic status and the party they voted
for (their party choice) in the 2017 election. Because of the nature of the
issue, gender inequality might also influence voters’ choices. Gender is used in this study as an
interfering variable in the relationship between social-economic status and
party-choice. </p>