Are You My Candidate? Gender, Undervoting, and Vote Choice in Same-Party Matchups

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Katelyn E. Stauffer ◽  
Colin A. Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Electoral Behavior ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Gender And Politics ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mixed Gender

Abstract Partisanship is the dominant force that dictates American electoral behavior. Yet Americans often participate in elections in which either the partisanship of candidates is unknown or candidates from the same party compete, rendering the partisan cue meaningless. In this research, we examine how candidate demographics—specifically gender—relate to voter behavior and candidate selection in these contexts. Leveraging survey data from same-party matchups in congressional elections (resulting from “top-two primaries”), we examine the relationship between candidate gender and undervoting and vote choice. We find that in same-party matchups, women candidates are associated with lower levels of undervoting among women voters. Furthermore, we find that in mixed-gender contests, women voters from both parties and Democratic men are more likely to favor female candidates. The findings presented here have important implications for the literatures on gender and politics, electoral politics, partisanship, and the design of electoral institutions.

Precarious Manhood Predicts Support for Aggressive Policies and Politicians

2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722096357
Author(s):  
Sarah H. DiMuccio ◽  
Eric D. Knowles
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Real World ◽  
Signal Strength ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Electoral Behavior ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
The Relationship

Precarious manhood (PM) theory posits that males are expected to actively maintain their reputations as “real men.” We propose that men’s concern about failing to meet masculine standards leads them to embrace policies and politicians that signal strength and toughness—or what we term political aggression. Three correlational studies support this claim. In Study 1, men’s fear of failing to meet masculine expectations predicted their support for aggressive policies (e.g., the death penalty), but not policies lacking aggressive features (e.g., affirmative action). Studies 2 and 3 utilized Google searches to assess the relationship between regional levels of PM and real-world electoral behavior. The use of search terms related to masculine anxieties correlated with Donald Trump’s vote share in the 2016 general election (Study 2) and, confirming preregistered predictions, with Republican candidates’ vote shares in 2018 congressional elections (Study 3). We close by discussing potential sources of variation in PM.

More Women Candidates: The Effects of Increased Women’s Presence on Political Ambition, Efficacy, and Vote Choice

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110063
Author(s):  
Mia Costa ◽  
Isabel Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
The U.S

The effect of women in politics is vitally important for the study of representation, yet evidence is mixed on the extent to which women’s presence influences individuals’ symbolic attitudes and behaviors. We use a priming survey experiment to examine how information about increased women candidates in the U.S. affects political ambition, efficacy, and future support for women candidates. We present several different patterns across gender and partisanship. Republicans report higher political ambition after hearing about more women candidates, even when those women are running for the opposite party. Men had higher political efficacy in response to more same-party women running, but not opposite-party women. Importantly, our evidence does not support the widespread notion that women’s presence positively influences women’s political efficacy or likelihood to vote for female candidates. The findings highlight the importance of considering the effects of women’s presence not only for the group that is assumed to benefit.

The Impact of Religion on Voting For Female Congressional Candidates

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Setzler ◽  
Alixandra B. Yanus
Keyword(s):  
Vote Choice ◽  
Congressional Election ◽  
National State ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Individual Vote ◽  
Evangelical Protestants ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mixed Gender

AbstractResearch shows that areas with high levels of aggregate religiosity are less likely to elect female candidates to national, state, and local offices. These studies, however, do not determine the causal mechanisms underlying this relationship. In the present analysis, we seek to examine what role, if any, religious exposure and tradition play in determining individuals’ general election vote choices in mixed-gender contests. To explore this relationship, we use data from the 2010 and 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Studies. We find some evidence of a relationship between religious beliefs and voting for female congressional candidates; when compared to secular voters, evangelical Protestants and Catholics are more likely to vote for Republican women and less likely to support Democratic women. Our results, however, also underscore partisan identities’ central role in shaping individual vote choice, regardless of a candidate's gender.

scholarly journals Electoral Institutions and Legislative Behavior: Explaining Voting Defection in the European Parliament

2004 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
European Union Member State ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Selection Rules ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Despite a sophisticated understanding of the impact of electoral institutions on macrolevel political behavior, little is known about the relationship between these institutions and microlevel legislative behavior. This article reviews existing claims about this relationship and develops a model for predicting how electoral institutions affect the relationship between parliamentarians and their party principals in the context of the European Parliament. The European Parliament is an ideal laboratory for investigating these effects, because in each European Union member state, different institutions are used to elect Members of European Parliament (MEPs). The results of this model, tested on four hundred thousand individual MEP vote decisions, show that candidate-centered electoral systems (such as open-list proportional representation or single-transferable-vote systems) and decentralized candidate-selection rules produce parliamentarians independent from their party principals. By contrast, party-centered electoral systems (such as closed-list proportional representation systems) and centralized candidate-selection rules produce parliamentarians beholden to the parties that fight elections and choose candidates: in the case of the European Parliament, the national parties.

Precarious Manhood Predicts Support for Aggressive Policies and Politicians

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah DiMuccio ◽  
Eric Knowles
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Real World ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Electoral Behavior ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
The Relationship

Precarious manhood theory posits that males are expected to actively maintain their reputations as “real men.” We propose that men’s fear of failing to meet masculine standards leads them to embrace aggressive politics—specifically, policies and politicians that facilitate dominance over others. Three correlational studies support this claim. In Study 1, men’s fear of failing to meet masculine expectations predicted their support for aggressive policies (e.g., the death penalty), but not policies unrelated to aggression (e.g., affirmative action). Studies 2 and 3 utilized Google searches to assess the relationship between regional levels of precarious manhood and real-world electoral behavior. Consistent with preregistered predictions, the use of search terms related to masculine anxieties correlated with Donald Trump’s vote share in the 2016 general election (Study 2) and Republican candidates’ vote shares in 2018 congressional elections (Study 3). We close by discussing potential sources of variation in precarious manhood.

The Troublesome “Paradox of Gender Quotas”: A Few Methodological Notes on the Margin of an Article by Michael Jankowski and Kamil Marcinkiewicz

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maciej A. Górecki
Keyword(s):  
Recent Article ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Paradoxical Effects ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Methodological Aspects ◽  
Electoral Performance

Abstract In a recent article published in Politics & Gender, Michael Jankowski and Kamil Marcinkiewicz (2019) study the effects of gender quotas on the electoral performance of female candidates in open-list proportional representation (OLPR) systems. On the empirical side, their study is a critical reanalysis of the Polish case, in particular the regularities demonstrated in a 2014 study that I coauthored. We argued there that at the micro level (candidate level), the effects of quotas were somewhat “paradoxical”: following the installation of quotas, women candidates tend to perform worse relative to their male counterparts than they did during the pre-quota period. Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz claim to demonstrate that those “paradoxical” effects are minor and thus practically negligible. In this note, I argue that their conclusion is largely a result of the particular methodological choices made by these authors. These choices seem unobvious, debatable, and potentially controversial. The note concludes that we need more reflection and debate on the methodological aspects of analyzing candidates’ electoral success in complex electoral systems, such as multidistrict OLPR. This would greatly facilitate future efforts aimed at an unequivocal examination of the contentious concepts such as the notion of “paradox of gender quotas.”

scholarly journals Simultaneous Elections and the Rise of Female Representation in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-72
Author(s):  
Luky Sandra Amalia ◽  
Aisah Putri Budiatri ◽  
Mouliza KD. Sweinstani ◽  
Atika Nur Kusumaningtyas ◽  
Esty Ekawati
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Institutional Innovation ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Legislative Election

In the 2019 election, the proportion of women elected to Indonesia’s People’s Representative Assembly ( Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) increased significantly to almost 21 per cent. In this article, we ask whether an institutional innovation – the introduction of simultaneous presidential and legislative elections – contributed to this change. We examine the election results, demonstrating that, overall, women candidates did particularly well in provinces where the presidential candidate nominated by their party won a majority of the vote. Having established quantitatively a connection between results of the presidential elections and outcomes for women legislative candidates, we turn to our qualitative findings to seek a mechanism explaining this outcome. We argue that the simultaneous elections helped women candidates by easing their access to voters who supported one of the presidential candidates, but who were undecided on the legislative election. Rather than imposing additional burdens on female candidates, simultaneous elections assisted them.

scholarly journals Female Candidates, Islamic Women’s Organisations, and Clientelism in the 2019 Indonesian Elections

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-92
Author(s):  
Muhammad Mahsun ◽  
Misbah Zulfa Elizabeth ◽  
Solkhah Mufrikhah
Keyword(s):  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Central Java ◽  
Grassroots Support ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Women's Networks

This article analyses the factors leading to the success of women candidates in the 2019 elections in Central Java. Recent scholarship on women’s representation in Indonesia has highlighted the role that dynastic ties and relationships with local political elites play in getting women elected in an environment increasingly dominated by money politics and clientelism. Our case study of women candidates in Central Java belonging to the elite of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)-affiliated women’s religious organisations Muslimat and Fatayat shows that strong women candidates with grassroots support can nonetheless win office. Using the concepts of social capital and gender issue ownership, and clientelism, we argue that women candidates can gain a strategic advantage when they “run as women.” By harnessing women’s networks and focusing on gender issues to target women voters, they are able to overcome cultural, institutional, and structural barriers to achieve electoral success even though they lack resources and political connections.

scholarly journals Political Dynasties and Women Candidates in Indonesia’s 2019 Election

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-49
Author(s):  
Sri Budi Eko Wardani ◽  
Valina Singka Subekti
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Local Power ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Political Success

In this article, we provide evidence suggesting that almost half (44 per cent) of female candidates elected to Indonesia’s national parliament in 2019 were members of political dynasties. Providing detailed data on the backgrounds of these candidates, including by party and region, we argue that several factors have contributed to their rise. Parties are increasingly motivated – especially in the context of a 4 per cent parliamentary threshold – to nominate candidates who can boost their party’s fortune by attracting a big personal vote. Members of political dynasties (especially those related to regional government heads and other politicians entrenched in local power structures) have access to financial resources and local political networks – increasingly important to political success in Indonesia’s clientelistic electoral system. We show that the rise of these dynastic women candidates is not eliminating gender bias within parties, but is instead marginalising many qualified female party candidates, including incumbents.

Attitudes toward Mormons and Voter Behavior in the 2012 Presidential Election

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hawley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Voter Behavior ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Active Member ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

AbstractPrior to the 2012 presidential election, some commentators speculated that Mitt Romney's status as a devout and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would undermine his presidential aspirations. Using the 2012 American National Election Survey, this study examines the relationship between attitudes toward Mormons and voter behavior in the United States in that election year. It finds that attitudes toward Mormons had a statistically-significant effect on turnout — though these effects differed according to party identification. It additionally finds that these attitudes influenced vote choice. In both cases, the substantive effects were small, indicating that anti-Mormon feelings did play a role in the 2012 presidential election, but they did not determine the final outcome.

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