Voting Behaviour among the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Electorate

Abstract

<jats:p><jats:bold>Abstract.</jats:bold>The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) population is a good example of a demographic group that has been understudied because it is difficult to develop a subsample of sufficient size from typical national samples. Here we exploit the extraordinary size of a 2006 online election day survey (with about 35,000 respondents) to examine how the GLBT community behaves politically. While it will surprise no one that this community bestowed little support on Stephen Harper's Conservative party in the 2006 federal election, the factors behind such a consistent vote pattern are not adequately understood. In order to shed more light on the voting behaviour of the GLBT electorate, we develop a socio-demographic profile of the group, and explore three explanatory angles: 1) salience of issue campaign dynamics, given that the same-sex marriage issue was prominent in 2006; 2) ideological and attitudinal proclivities; and 3) strategic considerations.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Résumé.</jats:bold>La population gaie, lesbiennes, bisexuels et transgenres (GLBT) est un exemple d'un groupe démographique qui a été peu étudié, car il est difficile de développer un sous-échantillon de taille suffisante à partir d'échantillons nationaux. Ici, nous exploitons la taille extraordinaire d'une enquête enligne du jour du scrutin fédérale du 2006 (avec environ 35.000 répondants) d'examiner comment la communauté GLBT se comporte politiquement. Bien qu'il ne surprendra personne que cette communauté accordé peu d'appui sur Parti conservateur de Stephen Harper lors de l'élection fédérale de 2006, les facteurs qui expliquent un tel motif ne sont pas bien compris. Afin de jeter plus de lumière sur le comportement de vote de l'électorat GLBT, nous développons un profil sociodémographique de cette groupe, et d'explorer trois angles explicatives: 1) pertinence de la question du mariage de même sexe, 2) tendances idéologiques, et 3) des considérations stratégiques.</jats:p>

Voting for Diversity? Politische Einstellungen und formale politische Partizipation von schwulen und lesbischen Bürger_innen in Deutschland

“…This was followed by Die Linke (the Left, 22.6%) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, 21.2%). This confirms the presumption that LGBTIQ* voters have a strong preference for left-wing and leftist parties and reproduces the results of studies that have been conducted in the US and Canada (Edel-mann 1993;Hertzog 1996;Bailey 2000;Egan 2004;Egan et al 2008;Schaffner/Senic 2006;Smith 2007;Gates 2012;Perrella et al 2012) or Western Europe (Turnbull-Dugarte 2020a, 2020b). Among other things, these differences in the center-left spectrum may be due to the fact that the respective parties have special policies for specific sexual or gender identities or take up LGBTIQ* topics in general terms.…”

“…Studies dealing with voting behavior and political attitudes of LGBTIQ* citizens are still scarce and have mainly focused on the United States (Schaffner/Senic 2006;Smith 2007;Hertzog 1996;Egan et. al 2008;Swank 2018) or Canada (Perrella et al 2012). Herzog (1996) showed that selfidentified lesbians, gays, and bisexuals comprised a distinctive and highly active voting bloc in electoral politics in the US.…”

The Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Vote in a More Tolerant Canada

“…With respect to community influence, scholars have proposed two routes by which the social and physical proximity of LGB voters contribute to the distinctiveness of the LGB vote. The first is the “conversion” experience of coming out, where coming out entails “a profound life-altering event, triggering a reconsideration of assumptions about society and politics, greater sympathy for marginalized groups, and a rethinking of political allies” (Perrella et al, 2012: 92; see also Egan et al, 2008). This mechanism would account for findings about LGB voters’ greater support for immigration (Turnbull-Dugarte, 2020b).…”

“…One of the most distinctive and understudied groups, particularly in Canada, is the lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) community. Research from Canada (Perrella et al, 2012, 2019) and elsewhere (Hertzog, 1996; Turnbull-Dugarte, 2020b) shows that LGB voters share a set of distinctive political preferences, constituting what Hertzog (1996) calls a “lavender vote.” LGB voters prefer left-of-centre parties and endorse left-leaning positions on a range of issues, including issues unrelated to LGB rights. In Canada, this means that LGB voters are the least likely to vote Conservative, although LGB voters seem to split over their left-of-centre party preferences (Perrella et al, 2012, 2019).…”

“…As Perrella et al (2012) note, despite LGB voters’ distinctive attitudes, they are understudied in Canada. This is partly because surveys rarely ask respondents to indicate their sexual identities and because, even if they do, surveys rarely sample enough respondents to study the attitudes of sexual minorities.…”