Dunedin Voters in the 2020s: <i>Fickle</i> , <i>Cueless and Cynical or Interested</i> , <i>Informed and Discerning?</i>

Overseas research indicates a weakening of the bonds between voters and political parties. Fewer voters are joining parties, fewer feel strongly attached to a party, and more voters are casting their vote for a different party across elections. A pessimistic interpretation of this ‘dealignment’ characterises contemporary voters as fickle, cueless, apartisan (if not alienated) and holding cynical, distrusting views of politicians and political institutions. An optimistic interpretation sees voters as freed from blindly following the party lead, independently gathering information and making more informed and discerning choices between candidates and parties. Our study sought evidence of the pessimistic or optimistic interpretations among voters in Dunedin, New Zealand, surveyed after the 2020 and 2023 general elections. We ask: to what extent do Dunedin voters confirm or challenge the international evidence that the stereotypical voter is fickle, clueless and cynical? Our expectation was that these voters would fit this characterisation, but our survey findings reveal a nuanced and discerning Dunedin voter who is interested in politics, talks about politics, uses a variety of sources to learn about political parties and policies during an election and holds politically sophisticated reasoning for voting the way they do.