What Explains Voting for DENK: Issues, Discrimination or In-group Favouritism?

Area of Science:

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Immigration Studies

Background:

• DENK is a significant political party in the Netherlands, appealing to ethnic and religious minorities.
• Understanding the voting patterns of minority groups is crucial in diverse European societies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the primary reasons behind ethnic and religious minorities voting for the DENK party.
• To test hypotheses related to issues, discrimination, and in-group favoritism.

Main Methods:

• An original survey of 905 Dutch voters was conducted.
• Oversampling of voters with Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese roots.
• Analysis of voting behavior across religiously diverse subgroups (Muslims, Christians, non-religious).

Main Results:

• Ethnic in-group favoritism, sense of belonging, discrimination experiences, and issues partially explain DENK support.
• Muslim in-group favoritism emerged as the decisive factor in voting for DENK.
• Findings highlight the role of religious identity in political choices.

Conclusions:

• Muslim in-group favoritism significantly influences voting behavior among minority groups in the Netherlands.
• The study contributes to understanding political participation in religiously diverse European immigration societies.