Political Parties and Their Customers: The Alignment of Party Policies with Supporter, Target and Undecided Market Preferences

Abstract

This chapter presents detailed analysis of the +250,000 Vote Compass sample to identify the parties’ alignment with supporters, target markets, and undecided voters. National’s platform was only in line with the views of 40% of their prospective voters, the lowest of the four parties examined while the Greens’ policies were most in line. National’s overall policy platform was not overwhelmingly in line with any demographic, while Labour, NZ First, and the Greens often overlapped on targets such as lower earners though Labour/Greens were stronger on youth and NZ First seniors. The Greens’ policies had the highest alignment with undecided voters, and National the lowest. Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First need to focus on attracting National’s prospective voters and undecided voters rather than each other’s market share, and National have significant work to reformulate an effective relationship with their prospective and undecided voters as well as identifying potential targets.