Gender and policy persuasion

Are policy arguments more or less persuasive when they are made by female politicians? Using a diverse sample of American respondents, we conduct a survey experiment which randomly varies the gender associated with two co-partisan candidates across four policy debates. We find strong effects conting...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political science research and methods 2021-10, Vol.9 (4), p.818-831
Main Authors: Anderson-Nilsson, Georgia, Clayton, Amanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birth control
Debates
Elections
Gender
Gender differences
Original Article
Partisanship
Persuasion
Political campaigns
Political leadership
Political parties
Polls & surveys
Reproductive rights
Respondents
Stereotypes
Women and politics
Womens health
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Summary:Are policy arguments more or less persuasive when they are made by female politicians? Using a diverse sample of American respondents, we conduct a survey experiment which randomly varies the gender associated with two co-partisan candidates across four policy debates. We find strong effects contingent on respondent partisanship and gender, most notably on the issue of access to birth control. On this issue, regardless of the candidate's stance, Democratic respondents, particularly Democratic men, are much more likely to agree with the female candidate. Conversely, Republican respondents, particularly Republican women, are much more likely to agree with the male candidate. We discuss the implications of our findings for the meaning of gender as a heuristic in a highly partisan environment.
ISSN:2049-8470
2049-8489
DOI:10.1017/psrm.2021.4