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Impressions of a Female Political Candidate Based on Political Party Affiliation

There is a gender gap in United States politics; men are over represented, and prioritize issues/policies differently compared with women. Stereotypes may be associated depending on group memberships. Stereotypes of men (competent) are consistent and stereotypes of women (warm) are inconsistent with politicians (competent). I examined stereotypes of major/non-major political parties, and how party affiliation affects whether stereotypes about men/male politicians/women/female politicians predict female politicians’ traits. Stereotype valence ascribed to political parties is important because people vote for a positively viewed party/representative. I assessed the strength and valence of stereotypes associated with political parties, and found major parties were viewed more positively than non-major parties, and the Democratic and Republican parties were viewed more positively than the Independent Party (Study 1). I found warmth and competence attributes ascribed to women/female politicians/men/male politicians predicted Karen Johnson’s warmth and competence depending on whether Karen Johnson was a major or non-major party candidate. When men/male politicians were perceived as competent Karen Johnson was perceived as competent, but no relationship between men/male politicians’ warmth and Karen Johnson’s warmth emerged. When women/female politicians were perceived as warm/competent, Karen Johnson was perceived as warm/competent. As a major candidate, Karen Johnson was perceived as warm/competent when women/female politicians were perceived as warm/competent. However, when Karen Johnson was a non-major candidate, there was no relationship between women’s competence and Karen Johnson’s competence, and when women/female politicians were perceived as warm, Karen Johnson was perceived as warm (Study 2). Women in office and members of multiple social groups are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unf.edu/oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1859
Date01 January 2018
CreatorsVeilleux, Candice J.
PublisherUNF Digital Commons
Source SetsUniversity of North Florida
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceUNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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