The European lavender vote: sexuality, ideology and vote choice in Western Europe
The European lavender vote: sexuality, ideology and vote choice in Western Europe
In many European democracies, political punditry has highlighted the attempts of political parties on the left to court the ‘lavender vote’ of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. This article examines the presence of a gay vote in Western Europe with a focus on assessing the role of sexuality in shaping individuals’ political preferences and voting behaviour. Empirically, the effect of sexuality on both ideological identification as well as party vote choice is analysed. Using a cumulative dataset of eight rounds of the European Social Survey between 2002 and 2017, this article demonstrates that partnered lesbians and gay men are more likely than comparable heterosexuals to identify with the left, support leftist policy objectives and vote for left‐of‐centre political parties. The analysis represents the first empirical cross‐national European study of the voting behaviour of homosexual individuals and sheds new light on the importance of sexuality as a predictor of political ideology and voting behaviour within the Western European context
LGBT politics, Western European, elections, political behaviour, voting behaviour
517-537
Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart
e25c6280-842c-407f-a961-6472eea5d845
August 2020
Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart
e25c6280-842c-407f-a961-6472eea5d845
Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart
(2020)
The European lavender vote: sexuality, ideology and vote choice in Western Europe.
European Journal of Political Research, 59 (3), .
(doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12366).
Abstract
In many European democracies, political punditry has highlighted the attempts of political parties on the left to court the ‘lavender vote’ of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. This article examines the presence of a gay vote in Western Europe with a focus on assessing the role of sexuality in shaping individuals’ political preferences and voting behaviour. Empirically, the effect of sexuality on both ideological identification as well as party vote choice is analysed. Using a cumulative dataset of eight rounds of the European Social Survey between 2002 and 2017, this article demonstrates that partnered lesbians and gay men are more likely than comparable heterosexuals to identify with the left, support leftist policy objectives and vote for left‐of‐centre political parties. The analysis represents the first empirical cross‐national European study of the voting behaviour of homosexual individuals and sheds new light on the importance of sexuality as a predictor of political ideology and voting behaviour within the Western European context
Text
WIP_LavenderVote_RR3
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 12 August 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 October 2019
Published date: August 2020
Keywords:
LGBT politics, Western European, elections, political behaviour, voting behaviour
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 437586
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/437586
ISSN: 0304-4130
PURE UUID: d017fd65-cdc2-4933-b212-b89d91ce3c26
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Date deposited: 06 Feb 2020 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:17
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