An analysis of the 2014 New Zealand general election: do Internet use and online party mobilisation matter?
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Like many advanced industrial democracies, New Zealand has been experiencing relatively stagnant voter turnout levels. Much of the blame for low voter turnout has been directed towards voter apathy. The rapid development of internet and communications technologies have made scholars consider the internet as a possible remedy for the participation bias. In this research note, we extend the examination of internet and vote mobilization to the case of New Zealand. We ask whether the mobilization by political parties and other people using the new media make a difference in voter turnout. Using the 2014 New Zealand General Election as the basis of our analysis, we find that traditional modes of voter mobilization make a difference in increasing the probability of a voter to go cast their vote. While we do not find support for the role of internet mobilization in increasing the probability to vote, we find that if internet mobilization is complemented by traditional mobilization, voters are more likely to vote as well. These findings give support to political parties’ efforts in ‘getting out the vote.’