Explaining the sexuality gap in attitudes and policy preferences : the case of health over wealth in response to the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Sexual minority citizens, on average, hold more liberal political attitudes than their heterosexual counterparts. However, the cause of this ‘sexuality gap’ remains contested. The broadly consensual nature of partisan responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK provides a unique case study to effectively control for the potential role of partisan cues and so shed light on the mechanisms that determine the sexuality gap. In this regard, we make three contributions in this letter. Firstly, using survey data on citizens’ attitudes towards prioritising health over the economy, we find that sexual minority voters disproportionately place greater emphasis on the former. This gap remains regardless of socio-demographics and party choice, suggesting a socialisation effect of sexuality. We use mediation analysis to demonstrate the sexuality gap can be explained primarily via divergent political outlooks and only to a lesser extent via differing levels of personal empathy, as has previously been theorised.