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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2021

Katelyn E. Stauffer Open the ORCID record for Katelyn E. Stauffer [Opens in a new window]  and
Colin A. Fisk Open the ORCID record for Colin A. Fisk [Opens in a new window]
Katelyn E. Stauffer
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina
Colin A. Fisk
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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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.

Keywords

Elections and voting behaviorwomen candidatessame-party matchupstop-two primary
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 575 - 604
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

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Footnotes

We would like to thank Jan Leighley, Patrick Kraft, Michael Olsen, Christian Grose, Monica Komer, and the three anonymous reviewers for their support and helpful feedback on this project.

References

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