Ethnic identity and voting

Interesting data from the Stuff/Massey survey. It’s self selecting so you can’t put much weight on the top line data but you can get something out of the difference between various groups.

Specifically I am interested in the differences between those who say they are NZ European, New Zealander and Pakeha. Technically all the same group in terms of ethnicity but which term you identify with reveals a lot.

• NZ Europeans are split fairly evenly between National and Labour (4% more say Labour)
• New Zealanders split to National by 15% over Labour
• Pakeha favour Labour by 36% over National
• Maori and Pasifika also favour Labour greatly while Asians slightly favour National
• Green support changes massively by self-identity. 17% of “Pakeha” say they vote Green while just 2.2% of “New Zealanders”
• Conversely ACT gets 11.5% of NZers and just 3.1% of Pakeha

The data isn’t surprising in that people who embrace Pakeha as a label tend to vote left and those who see themselves as a New Zealander rather than Pakeha or European tend to vote right, but having some numbers around it is useful.