Grant Robertson and running mate Jacinda Ardern at the launch of their leadership bid A strong majority of New Zealanders who have taken part in a new survey say a political leader’s sexuality would have no impact on their party support. In the Research New Zealand poll, 77 per cent of those surveyed say a party leader being gay would make ‘no difference’ to their party vote. The survey was designed in direct response to the Labour leadership race, which includes openly-gay contender Grant Robertson. When he launched his leadership bid, there was significant speculation about the impact his sexuality might have. Twenty per cent of respondents in the new poll say they would be less likely to back a party with a gay leader, two per cent would be more likely to vote for one, and one per cent didn’t know or refused to answer. The survey of nationally-representative sample of approximately 500 New Zealanders over 18 also asked about age, ethnicity, gender, union affiliation and religious beliefs. Only ethnicity and gender were deemed less of a factor than sexuality, while a leader aged over 75 or with strong religious beliefs were attributes voters were less likely to back a party over: The new leader will be announced after Labour Party members’ votes are counted on Tuesday afternoon. Party supporters were no more or less likely to give their support to a political party if the party leader was gay. “This poll gives us a clear picture of what is in most New Zealanders’ minds when they decide on their party vote based on the attributes of a party’s leader that we asked about,” says Research New Zealand Director Emanuel Kalafatelis. “The age, religious beliefs, union ties and whether or not the leader was born in New Zealand appear to make a bigger difference than other attributes.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th November 2014 - 10:30am