The Effect of Counterstereotypic Gender Strategies on Candidate Evaluations in American Elections

Women who ran for office in 2018 used a variety of strategies on the campaign trail, with some highlighting more masculine traits and others more feminine traits, but the latter was more common than in prior years. We ask how effective these strategies are for trait evaluations, perceptions of leade...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolitics & gender Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 1180 - 1203
Main Authors Wang, Ding, Merolla, Jennifer L., Manganiello, Arielle
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.12.2023
Subjects
Counterstereotypic gender strategies
campaign strategies
candidate evaluation
experimental study
gender stereotypes
candidate support
public opinion
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Summary:Women who ran for office in 2018 used a variety of strategies on the campaign trail, with some highlighting more masculine traits and others more feminine traits, but the latter was more common than in prior years. We ask how effective these strategies are for trait evaluations, perceptions of leadership and competence, likeability, and vote choice and how this effect varies based on respondent’s views about the role of women in society. To explore these relationships, we use data from a two-wave panel conducted in the winter of 2019. Results from our experiment show that female candidates who highlight more masculine traits are perceived as more agentic, less communal, and more competent, and, importantly, they do not appear to suffer from a backlash effect. Those higher in sexism also evaluate women who display these qualities as more competent, though as less warm and likable.
ISSN:1743-923X
1743-9248
DOI:10.1017/S1743923X23000314