Candidate Ethnicity and Vote Choice in Britain

This article develops and tests a set of theoretical mechanisms by which candidate ethnicity may have affected the party vote choice of both white British and ethnic minority voters in the 2010 British general election. Ethnic minority candidates suffered an average electoral penalty of about 4 per...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of political science 2015-10, Vol.45 (4), p.883-905
Main Authors: Fisher, Stephen D., Heath, Anthony F., Sanders, David, Sobolewska, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Conservatism
Elections
Ethnicity
Minority & ethnic groups
Muslims
Political science
Prejudice
Voter behavior
Voters
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Summary:This article develops and tests a set of theoretical mechanisms by which candidate ethnicity may have affected the party vote choice of both white British and ethnic minority voters in the 2010 British general election. Ethnic minority candidates suffered an average electoral penalty of about 4 per cent of the three-party vote from whites, mostly because those with anti-immigrant feelings were less willing to vote for Muslims. Ethnic minority voter responses to candidate ethnicity differed by ethnic group. There were no significant effects for non-Muslim Indian and black voters, while Pakistani candidates benefited from an 8-point average electoral bonus from Pakistani voters.
ISSN:0007-1234
1469-2112
DOI:10.1017/S0007123413000562