Do minority groups in european nations vote as heavily for the liberal parties

[Heimdal]

I can only speak of the case in Norway. First of all it depends on where the immigrants are from. Immigrants from other parts of Europe (or the US) vote along the same lines as Norwegians. Non-western immigrants are clearly tilted towards the parties of the left. The Labour party and the Socialist party receive around 70 % of the non-western immigrant vote. To some extent that is a function of the fact that a lot of non-western immigrants are doing menial work, or being dependent on welfare.

There are some indications though that their voting patterns change when they reach a higher economic stratum. So doctors, lawyers, dentists and engineers with Pakistani background are more likely to vote for parties of the center-right, and to a large extent they do.

The only parties that doesn’t receive any of the non-western immigrant vote is the Agrarian party (SP), the Christian Democrats (KrF) and the Liberals (Venstre). Even the populists in FrP gets a larger share of the immigrant vote than Venstre and KrF, which is sort of ironic, since Venstre and KrF has a far more liberal immigration policy.

So the difference between Norway and the US (in this respect) is that non-western minority groups in Norway are more likely to vote for the center-right, depending on  their income, where they live and how educated they are. As far as I can tell the situation is quite different in the US.

[Heimdal]

Note that the gender gap applies here as well. The Greens are particularly strong with women under 45. Merkel has managed to revert the traditional gender gap, and the CDU is now across all age groups stronger with women than men. All other parties are stronger with men than with women.

That is interesting. In Tony Judt’s «Postwar» he described the rise of the Christian Democrats in Europe after 1945. Among other factors he pointed out that women as a whole were usually more religious than men, and that the Christian Democrats message of reconciliation, family values and stability resonated with them. I assume that was the case for the German CDU as well.

However, in most Western European countries today, women are more likely to vote for the parties on the left. Why do you think Merkels CDU fare better among female voters than other Centre-right parties?

Is it because of the fact that Merkel is a woman, or is it something about the CDU?

[Heimdal]

I can only speak of the case in Norway. First of all it depends on where the immigrants are from. Immigrants from other parts of Europe (or the US) vote along the same lines as Norwegians. Non-western immigrants are clearly tilted towards the parties of the left. The Labour party and the Socialist party receive around 70 % of the non-western immigrant vote. To some extent that is a function of the fact that a lot of non-western immigrants are doing menial work, or being dependent on welfare.

There are some indications though that their voting patterns change when they reach a higher economic stratum. So doctors, lawyers, dentists and engineers with Pakistani background are more likely to vote for parties of the center-right, and to a large extent they do.

The only parties that doesn’t receive any of the non-western immigrant vote is the Agrarian party (SP), the Christian Democrats (KrF) and the Liberals (Venstre). Even the populists in FrP gets a larger share of the immigrant vote than Venstre and KrF, which is sort of ironic, since Venstre and KrF has a far more liberal immigration policy.

So the difference between Norway and the US (in this respect) is that non-western minority groups in Norway are more likely to vote for the center-right, depending on  their income, where they live and how educated they are. As far as I can tell the situation is quite different in the US.

That's not different from the US at all.

Yes it is. The obvious similarity is of course that a lot of minorities are voting for the party on the left. But the similarity ends there. Take for example the African-American professional class (they aren’t immigrants, but they are still a minority). They may be more predisposed to the GOP than their poor neighbors, but they are still overwhelmingly voting Democratic.

The Republicans are probably doing better among upper-income Hispanics and Asians, but not by that much.