What explains Taiwan’s vacillating support for same-sex marriage? Despite earlier favourable public opinion and a Constitutional Court decision in 2017 in favour of legalisation, anti-lgbt referendums in 2018 found overwhelming support. We argue that the framing of same-sex marriage as undermining traditional family structures allowed opponents to shift the national discussion on legalisation. Our results suggest that supporters and the Tsai administration may have overestimated the extent to which opinions on legalisation were firm.

We ask to what extent opposition to same-sex marriage in South Korea is driven by Protestant identification and how this differs from Catholic and non-Christian views. Furthermore, is there a separate demographic, partisan or ideological influence beyond that captured by religious identity? Analysis of the 2016 Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) data finds not only clear perceptual distinctions between Protestants versus Buddhists and Catholics, but that partisan distinctions endure, even after controlling for the more popular non-LGBT-specific anti-discrimination legislation. In addition, younger and female respondents were more supportive of legalization, while education did not have the same effect as in the broader LGBT literature.

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What influences Taiwanese public opinion on immigration? Taiwan faces the same immigration challenges as many other developed nations, where the demand for immigrant workers produces a domestic backlash. Our study addresses to what extent public opinions on immigration are influenced by two factors: the skills of immigrants and their place of origin. Our results show, besides the preference for skilled labour, that public opinion on the three Southeast Asian immigrant groups varies considerably, with the strongest negative reaction to Indonesian migrants. As Taiwan prides its progress on human rights among East Asian democracies, the results suggest the need for targeted policy efforts to overcome public biases towards Southeast Asian immigrants.

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