Pip at a polling station for the EU referendum in 2016

Dogs at polling stations or #dogsatpollingstations is a popular hashtag and Internet meme on social media during an election in the UK and other countries such as Australia.[1] Typically, the dogs are photographed waiting for their owners outside the polling station and the pictures then posted on services such as Instagram or Twitter.[2][3]

The hashtag became popular in the UK general elections of 2015 and 2017.[4][5]

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held in December and thus many of the photographs had a seasonal theme such as showing the dog wearing a Santa hat. Politicians who participated included Boris Johnson, with his dog Dilyn, and Sadiq Khan with his Labrador, Luna.[6] Ed Davey posted a picture of his family's guinea pig, Carrot, as they do not have a dog. Other animals, such as horses, also made appearances.[7][8][9]

Semiotic analysis of the photographs may indicate the political alignment or voting preference of the dogs' owners.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Caple, Helen (2019), "Lucy says today she is a Labordoodle": how the dogs-of-Instagram reveal voter preferences", Social Semiotics, 29 (4): 427–447, doi:10.1080/10350330.2018.1443582, S2CID 149303152
  2. ^ Dogs at polling stations: Pooches at the polls, BBC, 12 December 2019
  3. ^ Fidler, Matt (12 December 2019), "Taking the lead: dogs at polling stations – in pictures", Guardian
  4. ^ Allen, Tony (23 August 2017), "10 years of hashtags that changed Twitter", The Independent
  5. ^ Ruck, Joanna (8 June 2017). "Dogs at polling stations – in pictures". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  6. ^ Hogan, Michael (12 December 2019), "Forget Boris Johnson v Jeremy Corbyn… the real political rivalry is between Dilyn the dog and El Gato the cat", The Telegraph
  7. ^ Betts, Marc (12 December 2019), "Social media, dogs and even a guinea pig: The trend of pets at polling stations", The New European
  8. ^ Brown, Faye (12 December 2019), "Dogs at polling stations upstaged by 'horses with causes'", The Metro
  9. ^ Hassan, Jennifer. "Dogs at polling stations are always big in Britain. This election also brought horses and reindeer". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
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