Party leaders, global warming and green voting in Australia

Abstract

Major party leaders not only seem to influence public opinion on global warming, argues this conference paper, but also have an impact upon Green voting in federal elections. As the Australian environmental movement has routinised and become increasingly institutionalised, its representative aspect – the Australian Greens – have grown to become a successful minor party. Environmental attitudes and voting for the Greens in the Senate are examined here through multivariate analyses of Australian Election Study data collected between 1990 and 2010. Younger people, the tertiary educated and postmaterialists consistently vote for the Greens, yet major party leaders also appear to shape environmental voting. Controlling for social and political background, respondent evaluations of major party leaders are associated with attitudinal variation over the risks of global warming. Major party leaders not only seem to influence public opinion on global warming, but also have an impact upon Green voting in federal elections.