Figure 1.
Intertopic Distance Map: Pre-reform Topics. Topic 1: health, hospitals, public, care, hospital, system, patients, services, quality, national. Topic 2: families, children, family, parents, childcare, child, support, social, subsidy, stress. Topic 3: fishing, fisheries, fish, quota, aquaculture, recreational, management, commercial, industry, percent. Topic 4: relations, industrial, unions, employment, union, workers, bargaining, employers, contracts, equity. Topic 5: trade, export, markets, imports, products, tariffs, marketing, market, overseas, goods. Topic 6: environmental, environment, conservation, natural, management, sustainable, resource, resources, accounts, mineral. Topic 7: tax, taxation, small, taxes, businesses, business, duties, applies, definition, which.
Figure 1.
Intertopic Distance Map: Pre-reform Topics. Topic 1: health, hospitals, public, care, hospital, system, patients, services, quality, national. Topic 2: families, children, family, parents, childcare, child, support, social, subsidy, stress. Topic 3: fishing, fisheries, fish, quota, aquaculture, recreational, management, commercial, industry, percent. Topic 4: relations, industrial, unions, employment, union, workers, bargaining, employers, contracts, equity. Topic 5: trade, export, markets, imports, products, tariffs, marketing, market, overseas, goods. Topic 6: environmental, environment, conservation, natural, management, sustainable, resource, resources, accounts, mineral. Topic 7: tax, taxation, small, taxes, businesses, business, duties, applies, definition, which.
Figure 2.
Intertopic Distance Map: Post-reform Topics. Topic 1: transport, road, rail, roads, roading, safety, traffic, infrastructure, congestion, transit. Topic 2: tax, taxation, taxes, rate, income, lower, company, corporate, personal, higher. Topic 3: housing, tenants, houses, state, income, low, rental, rent, accommodation, house. Topic 4: defence, force, forces, maritime, air, capability, allies, navy, peace, army. Topic 5: they, but, we, delivered, it, what, let, now, more, win. Topic 6: radio, broadcasting, television, tvnz, spectrum, fm, air, music, tv, nz. Topic 7: export, business, value, small, growth, economy, exports, commerce, wealth, businesses.
Figure 2.
Intertopic Distance Map: Post-reform Topics. Topic 1: transport, road, rail, roads, roading, safety, traffic, infrastructure, congestion, transit. Topic 2: tax, taxation, taxes, rate, income, lower, company, corporate, personal, higher. Topic 3: housing, tenants, houses, state, income, low, rental, rent, accommodation, house. Topic 4: defence, force, forces, maritime, air, capability, allies, navy, peace, army. Topic 5: they, but, we, delivered, it, what, let, now, more, win. Topic 6: radio, broadcasting, television, tvnz, spectrum, fm, air, music, tv, nz. Topic 7: export, business, value, small, growth, economy, exports, commerce, wealth, businesses.
Figure 3.
Average Vader Polarity for Multiple Topics. Topics in this figure were created by applying topic modeling to only the Green Party’s 2017 manifesto. The scores are weighted by the log of the numbers of rows in which one of the topic words appears, for each party’s manifesto. Only manifestos from the 2017 election were used in this analysis.
Table 1.
Similarity between the Labour Party and Other Parties.
LP 1987 | LP 1990 | LP 1993 | LP 1996 | LP 1999 | LP 2002 |
---|
NP 1987 | NP 1987 | NP 1987 | DP 1987 | NP 1993 | NP 1990 |
DP 1987 | DP 1987 | LP 1987 | NP 1987 | ACT 1999 | NZF 1999 |
| NP 1990 | NP 1990 | NZF 1996 | NP 1987 | NZF 1996 |
| LP 1987 | All 1993 | LP 1993 | NP 1999 | NP 2002 |
| DP 1990 | NP 1993 | NP 1990 | NP 1996 | LP 1993 |
| | DP 1987 | LP 1987 | LP 1993 | All 1999 |
| | LP 1990 | ACT 1996 | All 1993 | All 1996 |
| | DP 1990 | NP 1996 | DP 1987 | NP 1996 |
| | | NP 1993 | NZF 1999 | Prog 2002 |
| | | All 1996 | LP 1990 | NZF 2002 |
| | | LP 1990 | All 1999 | LP 1987 |
|
LP 2005 | LP 2008 | LP 2011 | LP 2014 | LP 2017 | |
Prog 2002 | NP 2005 | Prog 2002 | LP 1993 | Prog 2002 | |
NP 1996 | Prog 2005 | ACT 2002 | ACT 2008 | ACT 2002 | |
All 1999 | NZF 2002 | LP 1987 | GP 2014 | NP 1987 | |
LP 1999 | LP 1993 | ACT 1999 | NP 1990 | LP 1999 | |
NP 1993 | NP 1990 | NP 2005 | UF 2014 | NP 1999 | |
NP 1999 | NZF 1999 | NZF 1999 | ACT 2002 | NP 2008 | |
ACT 1999 | LP 1987 | DP 1990 | Prog 2002 | ACT 1999 | |
UF 2002 | ACT 2002 | All 1999 | LP 2005 | NZF 2014 | |
LP 1993 | Prog 2002 | ACT 2008 | UF 2002 | Prog 2005 | |
Maori 2005 | ACT 2008 | NZF 2011 | NP 2011 | NP 2011 | |
Prog 2005 | ACT 1996 | UF 2002 | NP 2002 | GP 2011 | |
Table 2.
Similarity between the National Party and Other Parties.
NP 1987 | NP 1990 | NP 1993 | NP 1996 | NP 1999 | NP 2002 |
---|
DP 1987 | NP 1987 | NP 1987 | NP 1993 | NP 1996 | LP 1993 |
LP 1987 | LP 1987 | LP 1993 | NP 1990 | NP 1993 | All 1993 |
| DP 1987 | LP 1987 | NP 1987 | All 1999 | NZF 2002 |
| LP 1990 | All 1993 | NZF 1996 | LP 1999 | All 1999 |
| DP 1990 | DP 1987 | All 1993 | ACT 1999 | LP 2002 |
| | LP 1990 | LP 1987 | NP 1987 | NP 1999 |
| | NP 1990 | LP 1993 | All 1993 | NP 1990 |
| | DP 1990 | ACT 1996 | LP 1987 | Prog 2002 |
| | | DP 1987 | LP 1993 | ACT 1996 |
| | | LP 1990 | DP 1987 | LP 1987 |
| | | LP 1996 | NP 1990 | NZF 1999 |
|
NP 2005 | NP 2008 | NP 2011 | NP 2014 | NP 2017 | |
Prog 2005 | NP 1999 | ACT 2008 | LP 1999 | ACT 2008 | |
LP 1993 | NP 1993 | Prog 2005 | Maori 2008 | NP 2011 | |
NP 1987 | Prog 2002 | NP 1987 | NP 2011 | NZF 1999 | |
Prog 2002 | NP 1987 | ACT 2002 | NP 1993 | Prog 2005 | |
NZF 1999 | Prog 2005 | LP 2002 | NP 1996 | LP 1993 | |
LP 1987 | LP 1999 | Prog 2002 | ACT 2014 | NP 1987 | |
NZF 2002 | ACT 2002 | ACT 1999 | Prog 2005 | LP 2008 | |
ACT 2002 | LP 1993 | LP 1993 | NP 1987 | NP 2005 | |
NP 1990 | NP 1996 | NP 2005 | ACT 1999 | NZF 2011 | |
ACT 1996 | LP 1987 | LP 1999 | NP 1999 | Prog 2002 | |
NP 1999 | ACT 1999 | UF 2008 | NP 2005 | NP 1996 | |
Table 3.
Example Topic.
Top 10 Words | Importance Value |
---|
transport | 0.047 |
cycling | 0.039 |
walking | 0.035 |
rail | 0.027 |
safe | 0.023 |
buses | 0.021 |
cycle | 0.021 |
wellington | 0.020 |
congestion | 0.020 |
roads | 0.019 |
Table 4.
Sample of VADER Scores for Each Sentence.
Party | Text | Polarity Vader |
---|
GP | Support locating clusters near transport hubs (rail lines, ports, etc.) | 0.4019 |
GP | Expand the nationwide network of cycle/pedestrian trails. | 0.3182 |
GP | Promote rail as a great way to travel and seek to make it more available and reliable. | 0.7717 |
GP | All goods and services produced or sold in New Zealand to meet quality and sustainability standards (e.g., energy and recycling standards). | 0.2732 |
GP | Fast, electric rail lines eliminate pollution and create healthier, congestion-free cities. | 0.2732 |
GP | Safe walking and cycling for kids. | 0.4404 |
GP | Allocate NZD 50m a year for four years to build modern, convenient walking and cycling infrastructure around schools: separating kids and other users from road traffic, providing a safe choice for families. | 0.6486 |
GP | Get half of kids walking or cycling to school by 2022: reducing congestion; improving health and learning; saving families time and money. | 0.4215 |
GP | Better funding will enable more frequent buses on existing routes. | 0.4404 |
Table 5.
VADER Scores for Each Party on Transportation.
Party | Number of Sentences | Avg Polarity Vader | Weighted Polarity |
---|
ACT | 14 | 0.151 | 0.574 |
GP | 174 | 0.352 | 2.622 |
LP | 54 | 0.338 | 1.943 |
Maori | 14 | 0.556 | 2.118 |
NP | 129 | 0.368 | 2.581 |
NZF | 30 | 0.225 | 1.102 |
Table 6.
Summary of Results.
NLP Technique | The Good | The Bad |
---|
Document Similarity | Insights on detecting how parties position themselves, relative to others. Insights on which minor parties successfully gain the attention of major parties.
| |
Topic Modeling | | |
Sentiment Analysis | | |