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

Abstract

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.

Gender and Support for Undemocratic Politicians

“…Given these two points, stereotypes and the empirical evidence of gendered differences in governmental norm breaking behavior, we can expect that men and women candidates will be held to different standards when evaluating democratic transgressions. While Wang et al (2023) show that women candidates highlighting more masculine traits are perceived as more agentic and competent, and that women do not receive a backlash for displaying these traits, it is expected that women candidates are more harshly evaluated when being perceived as violators of democratic norms. The reason for this harsher evaluation is due to the violation of both the norm and the preconceived stereotypical view of women's expected behaviour.…”

Gender and support for undemocratic politicians

“…Given these points, stereotypes and the empirical evidence of gendered differences in governmental norm breaking behavior, we can expect that men and women candidates will be held to different standards when evaluating democratic transgressions. While Wang et al (2023) show that women candidates highlighting more masculine traits are perceived as more agentic and competent, and that women do not receive a backlash for displaying these traits, it is expected that women candidates are more harshly evaluated when being perceived as violators of democratic norms. The reason for this harsher evaluation is due to the violation of both the norm and the preconceived stereotypical view of women's expected behavior.…”

More Money, Less Credit? Legislator Gender and the Effectiveness of Congressional Credit Claiming

“…Stereotypes around gender lead voters to inherently associate masculine traits with political leadership (Bauer 2020). Women politicians can emphasize masculine traits to mitigate gender stereotypes on expertise, competence, and leadership, but doing so risks a likability backlash (Bauer 2017;Wang, Merolla, and Manganiello 2023). Therefore, female candidates must vary their messaging strategies to balance masculine and feminine stereotypes (Carpinella and Bauer 2021;Santia 2022, 2023).…”