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University of Utah
Do Gender Stereotypes Transcend Party?Author(s): Kira Sanbonmatsu and Kathleen DolanSource: Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Sep., 2009), pp. 485-494Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the University of Utah
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Do GenderStereotypesranscend arty?
KiraSanbonmatsu
RutgersUniversity,ewBrunswick, ewJerseyKathleen olanUniversityfWisconsin, ilwaukee
PoliticalResearchQuarterlyVolume 2Number
September009 485-494© 2009UniversityfUtah
10.1177/1065912908322416
http://prq.sagepub.comhosted t
http://online.sagepub.com
Voters oldstereotypesbout andidate ender ndcandidate arty. et ittle s known bout he ntersectionf
genderndparty tereotypes.nthis rticle, e investigatehetherendertereotypesranscendarty. e considerwhether ender tereotypesffectwomanpoliticians ifferentlyy party nd examine he effect f partisanidentificationngender tereotypes.e find hat he ublic erceivesender ifferencesithin oth olitical arties.Thusthepresence fthepartyue does notpreclude rolefor andidate ender. owever, e also find hat he
implicationsfgender tereotypesresomewhat ifferentor emocraticndRepublican omen.
Keywords: womenandidates; ender tereotypes;arty
hold a rangeofstereotypesased on candi-dategender, rom ersonalityraits o the candi-
date's ability to handle policy questions. Woman
politiciansare perceivedto possess typicallyfemi-ninetraits,uch as beingwarm nd sensitive, nd arebelieved to be expert n so-called woman ssues suchas education and women's issues. Meanwhile,men
politicians re perceived o possess typicallymascu-
linetraits, uchas beingassertive nd tough, nd arebelieved to be better ble to handle so-called menissues suchas crime nd defense Sapiro 1981-1982;Rosenwasser and Seale 1988; Leeper 1991; Huddyand Terkildsen 993; Alexander nd Andersen1993;Burrell1994;Matland1994; Kahn 1996;McDermott
1997; Sanbonmatsu 002; Lawless 2004). Women n
politics are also perceivedto be more liberal thanmen Huddyand Terkildsen 993; McDermott1997;Koch 2000, 2002).
The partyaffiliation f politiciansalso conveysuseful nformationo voters boutpolitician deology
and policy positions (Lodge and Hamill 1986;Petrocik1996). Voters re familiarwithparty iffer-ences on a host of issues, from defense policy tosocial services and spending Rahn 1993). Thoughpoliticianscan be categorized by both genderand
party, esearch on gender stereotypes nd partisanstereotypesasproceededon separate rajectories. sa result, ast researchhas tended to treat hese two
importantets of variables in isolation, eaving uswith ittle nformationbout how theymightnteractinthemindsof thepublic.
Existing esearch emonstrateshe ack ofprecisionin ourunderstandingf whetherndhowgender nd
party stereotypes perate simultaneously o shapepeople's thinkingboutpolitics.Huddy nd Terkildsen
(1993) havepositedthatvoter amiliarity ithvisiblewomanDemocratic oliticiansmayexplain he tereo-
type hatwomanpoliticians re more iberal hanmen
politicians.Meanwhile, criticshave suggestedthat
gender tereotypes aymerely eflect olitician arty.Brians 2005) finds hatRepublicanwomenwill crossover and vote for Democratic woman candidates,
thereby llowingcandidategender o trump artisan-ship. At the same time,otherauthors uggestthat
anyeffect f candidategendermaydisappear n the
presence of partycues (Huddy and Capelos 2002;Matlandand King 2002). In thisarticle,we seek todeterminef genderstereotypesranscend arty.Wealso seek to understand he relationshipbetween
respondentartydentificationndgender tereotypesabout Democratic ndRepublicanpoliticians.
This investigations important ora numberofreasons.How thepublicevaluateswomancandidates
Kira Sanbonmatsu, ssociateProfessorf PoliticalScience,Rutgers niversity;-mail: [email protected].
Kathleen olan, Professor f Political cience,UniversityfWisconsin-Milwaukee;-mail: [email protected].
Authors'Note:We thank ellyDittmaror esearchssistanceand ClaudineGay,Jenniferatkin,ndparticipantstthe QSSPolitical Psychology nd BehaviorWorkshop t Harvard
Universityor omments.
485
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486 PoliticalResearchQuarterly
is an unsettleduestion nd is likely odepend nmultiplepolitical influencesDolan 2004). Forexample, ender tereotypesave thepotentialoeither elpor hurtwoman andidatesMcDermott
1997;KingandMatland 003).At the sametime,evidenceuggestshat oters iewwoman andidatesas they o men candidates:hroughhetraditionallenses of party nd incumbencyDolan 2004).Learningmore bouthowpartyndgender tereo-
typesntersectillexpand urunderstandingf theelectoral ituations oman candidates ace.Also,understandinghetherespondentartydentifica-tionnfluencestereotypedvaluations ight iveusa senseof whether oman andidates ace different
challengesasedontheir artyffiliation.The underrepresentationf women n elective
office in whichwomencompose 16 percent fmembersfCongressnd23.5percentfmembersfstate egislaturesCenter orAmericanWomen ndPoliticsCAWP]2007a)- is believed o result romthe nstitutionalnertia reated y the ncumbencyadvantage,atherhan rom lack fvoterupportorwoman andidatesDarcy,Welch, nd Clark1994;Seltzer,ewman,ndLeighton997). tudies hat ake
incumbencynto ccount avefound hatwomen ndmenwin t the ame atesDarcy ndSchramm977;Clark t al. 1984;Burrell 994;Seltzer, ewman,nd
Leighton997;Lawless ndPearson008).
However, ther studiesare more pessimistic.Woman ongressionalandidates ace more rimarycompetitionhanmen,ndDemocratic omen end obe moresuccessfuln primarieshanRepublicanwomenGaddie ndBullock 995;Palmer ndSimon2006;Lawless ndPearson 008).Moreover, omenaremoreikely o runn some ypes f districtshanothers.or xample, emocratic omen end orep-resentmore liberal,urban,raciallydiverse, ndwealthierdistricts han Democraticmen; and
Republican omen end o be elected rommore ib-eral and more
electorallymarginalistricts han
Republicanmen Evans 2005; Palmer nd Simon2006).Becausewoman andidatesnd egislatorsrenotrandomlyistributedcross the United tates,similaritynmen's ndwomen'success atesmay ean indicationhat level playing ieldexists forwomanandidates herehey ave un, atherhan nindicationhatheres a level layingield orwomeningeneralSanbonmatsu006). nshort,omen'sote-
gettingbility oes notnecessarily ean hat otersreact omen ndwoman andidatesnthe ameway.Gendertereotypesre learly resentnAmericanol-
itics ndmay hape llaspects f n electionnvolving
a woman andidate: edia overage,andidatetrate-gies,voternformationrocessing,andidatevalua-tion,ndvote upportKahn1996).
Voter tereotypes ay also discouragewomen
fromunningor fficenthefirst lace.Analyzingthe ntersectionfpartyndgendertereotypesasthe otentialo shed ightn woman andidates'os-sibilitiesf uccess. or xample,heresa large ar-tisangap inwomen's fficeholding.n 2007,about70 percentof women in state legislatures ndCongresswereDemocratsCAWP 2007a, 2007b,2007c).Amongwoman tateegislators,hepartisangaphas ncreasednrecent ears. emocratic omencomposed58 percent f all woman egislatorsn1979, omparedo69percentn2007 CAWP 1979).The reasonforthisgrowing artisanmbalance s
unclear.We believe hat he ntersectionfgendertereo-typeswith artymaybe a partial xplanation.eopleclearly old tereotypesboutwoman ndmen oliti-cians. If thosestereotypesre also influencedyparty,he xperiencef ndividual oman andidatesmay e easier rmorehallenging.or xample,hereis some vidence hat epublican omenmayhavemoredifficultimegettinghrough arty rimaries,may rawmore hallengershan emocratic omen,andmaybe evaluatedmoreharshly y Republicanvoters han Democraticwomen are amongtheir
party'svoters Bratton 004; King and Matland2003). fgender tereotypesranscendolitical artyand leaveRepublicanwomen n a moreprecariouselectoralituation,hismight elp xplain he resentpartisanmbalancemongwoman fficeholders.
Weproceeds follows.We outlineeveral ypothe-ses concerningherelationshipsmongvoter arty,politician arty,ndpolitician ender.We first on-siderwhethereopleholdgender tereotypesboutboth emocraticndRepublican oliticians. e thenturn o ananalysisfvoters' ender tereotypesbout
politiciansf their wn
party. inally,eanalyze
heeffectfpartisandentificationngender tereotypes.Ourstudymprovesnpastresearch ecausewe use
stereotypeuestionshatpecifyhepolitical artyfmen ndwomen,atherhan uestionshat sk aboutmen ndwoman oliticiansngeneral.
Hypotheses
Studies fgender tereotypesavebeencriticizedfor ailingo takepartynto ccounte.g.,King ndMatland 003).Typically,cholars avegauged oter
stereotypesy tudyingublic eactionohypothetical
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Sanbonmatsu,Dolan /GenderStereotypes 487
men ndwoman andidates, ithout ention f the
partyfthe andidates. ritics ave rguedhat hesestudiesreproblematicecause he ueofgender illbecomerrelevantnthe resencefthemorempor-
tantue ofparty. owever, ehypothesizehat en-der tereotypesranscendarty. eexpect hat oterswillperceiveendertereotypesithinhe womajorpolitical arties.
The few tudieshat aveconsideredhe ntersec-tionofgender tereotypesithpartisantereotypesprovideupportor his iew. he deology tereotype,inparticular,s fairly ell established. och 2000)finds hat othDemocratic ndRepublicanwoman
congressionalandidatesreperceiveds moreiberalthan hey ctuallyre.Althoughhey nly xamine
Republicanandidates,ing ndMatland2003)find
that hypotheticalepublican oman andidate asperceivedyRepublicanss less conservativehan nidenticalmenRepublicanandidate,urtheruggest-ing hat endertereotypesperate ithinheparties.Koch 2001)findshat oters se both andidateen-der ndpartyoplace andidatesnthe bortionssue.Studiesf he ctualssuepositionsndvotingehav-ior f andidatesndmembersfCongresseveal hatwomenremore iberalhanmen Koch2000,2001;Swers 002;Evans 005).
Webeginbyexaminingherelationshipf voter
partydentificationopolitician arty.n doing o,
we seek ocontributeo the ebate bout he rimacyofgender ersus artyuesand to shed ight nthe
growing artisan ap in women's fficeholding.fDemocratic nd Republicanvotershold different
stereotypesbout hemenand womenwithinheir
party, emaygain nsightntowhether oman an-didates acedifferenthallengesasedonparty.ewstudies ave xaminedhe ffectf voter artyden-tificationn stereotypesecausebetween-subjectslaboratoryxperimentsre typically sed to studyvoterstereotypes. owever,using data from anational
elephoneurvey, ingndMatland2003)
found hatDemocraticndIndependentoters er-ceived hypotheticalomanRepublican andidatemore avorablyhan menRepublicanandidate.na telephoneurveyf Ohioresidents,anbonmatsu
(2003)foundhat artydentificationffectedeliefsabout ssue ompetency.hereforeeexpect ofinddifferencesnhowDemocraticndRepublicanoters
perceivemen ndwoman oliticians.
Analysis
Weanalyze atafrom he 006American ationalElection tudiesPilotStudy.1 uestionsmeasuring
respondenterceptionsfwomen's nd men's ssuecompetencywere asked about Democratic andRepublican members of Congress separately.Respondentsere sked,Whowould o a betterob
in heU.S.Congressandlingrime a Democrat hois a man, Democrat ho s a woman,r would heydo an equallygoodor bad ob?"2Respondentshochose man" r woman" ere sked follow-upues-tion bout he xtentowhich man r womanwouldbe better"A great ealbetter, oderatelyetter,r
slightlyetter?"). espondentsere sked he ame
question bout theRepublican arty. he identical
question ording as used oexamine erceivedssue
competencyn education. he ordernwhich espon-dentswere sked bout hetwopartiesndthe woissueswas randomized.
We first onsiderhequestion fwhetherenderstereotypesranscendarty.hedescriptivetatisticsinTable1concerningssue ompetencyn crime ndeducationlearly emonstratehat oters oldgenderstereotypesbout oth emocratsndRepublicansn
Congress. he vastmajorityfrespondentsook
gender-neutralosition, nswering hat men andwomen fbothpartieswould be equallygood (orbad) at handling rime and education.However,nearly0percentfrespondentseportedender if-ferencesn issuecompetency.n the ase ofeduca-tion, espondentserceivedwomanDemocrats nd
woman Republicans as better able than menDemocrats ndmenRepublicanso handle he ssue.Meanwhile,espondentsiewedmenDemocrats ndmenRepublicanss betterble to handle rime. heexistencefa perceived oman dvantagen educa-tion nd men dvantagencrimes consistentith
past urveyndexperimentalesearchSapiro1983;Huddy nd Terkildsen993;Burrell 994;Matland1994;Sanbonmatsu002).
We turnnext to the issue positionquestion:"WhichCongressional epresentativeo youthinkwouldbemore
ikelyosupport
bortioneing egalin all circumstancesa Democratwho s a man,Democrat ho s a woman, rwould hey eequallylikely?"seeTable2). Respondentsho hose man"or "woman"were sked follow-up uestionbouttheperceivedxtentfgender ifference"A greatdealmore ikely,moderately ore ikely,rslightlymore ikely?").Respondents ere asked the same
questionsbout heRepublican arty. he ordernwhich espondentsere sked bout he wopartieswas randomized.
Nearlyhalfof voters ee a gender ifferencen
abortionwithin othpoliticalparties.Voters eeDemocratic omen s more iberal han emocratic
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488 Political ResearchQuarterly
Table 1IssueCompetencytereotypes
Education Crime
Democrats Republicans Democrats Republicans
inCongress inCongress inCongress inCongress
(n = 673; %) (n = 671 %) (n = 672; %) (n = 671 %)
ManGreat deal better 1.9 2.3 4.3 4.6
Moderatelybetter 1.7 1.4 9.9 9.2
Slightly etter 1.5 0.6 4.3 5.9
Subtotal 5.1 4.3 18.5 19.7
Equally good/bad 70.3 71.8 75.1 74.5
Woman
Slightly etter 6.0 4.7 1.1 1.7
Moderatelybetter 11.9 13.0 2.3 3.1
Greatdeal better 6.8 6.2 2.9 1.1
Subtotal 24.6 23.9 6.4 5.9
Note: Questionwordingwas as follows: "Now I have some questionsabouthow men and womenwho are Democratsand Republicansare likelyto handle issues in the U.S. Congress. Who would do a better ob in the U.S. Congress handling[education/crime] a
[Democrat/Republican] ho is a man,a [Democrat/Republican]who is a woman,or would theydo an equallygood or bad ob?" Probe:
"A greatdeal better,moderately etter, r slightly etter?"
Table2Abortion tereotype
Democratsin Republicansin
Congress Congress(n = 666; %) (n = 664; %)
ManGreat deal more ikely 3.6 2.5
Moderatelymore ikely 4.0 2.9
Slightlymore ikely 1.7 4.5
SubTotal 9.4 9.8
Equally likely 50.0 57.2
Woman
Slightlymore ikely 10.3 9.2
Moderatelymore ikely 16.0 16.3
Great deal more ikely 14.4 7.6
SubTotal 40.7 33.0
Note: Questionwordingwas as follows: "Which Congressional
Representativeoyou
thinkwould be more ikely osupport bor-
tionbeing legal in all circumstances a [Democrat/Republican]who is a man, a [Democrat/Republican]who is a woman, or
would theybe equally likely?"Probe: "A greatdeal more ikely,
moderatelymore ikely, r slightlymore ikely?"
men nabortion,ndtheyeeRepublican omen smoreiberal han epublican en n abortion.n bothissue ompetencynd ssue ositions,efind videncethat endertereotypesranscendarty.hus voters'
gendertereotypeso notmerelyeflecthe revalenceofDemocratsmong lectedwomen;nstead, otersseegenderifferencesithin oth olitical arties.3f
voters'eliefsboutwoman
oliticiansere
olelyue
to theperceptionhatwomenare Democrats,wewouldnot observe hesegender ifferencesmongRepublican oliticians.
We next ocus nvoters'valuationsf theirwn
party's oliticians.f respondentartisanshipnter-actswith endertereotypes,hen endertereotypes
mayhavedifferentmplicationsorDemocraticndRepublican omen.n Table3,welimit ur nalysistorespondentsho dentifyith heDemocraticr
Republicanartyndonly xamine espondentiewsabout heirwnpartyi.e.,DemocraticvaluationsfDemocratsnCongress ndRepublicanvaluationsof Republicans n Congress).We examinethe
descriptivetatisticsf the two issue competencystereotypes:rime ndeducation.
Table3 reveals hatDemocratsndRepublicansdifferlightlyntheirvaluations.nan ssue hats
typicallyerceiveds a traditionaloman trengtheducationRepublicanwomen re less likely hanDemocratic omen o beperceivedavorablyytheir
partymembers. eanwhile, epublicanwomen remoredisadvantagedn a traditional en trengthcrime than re theirDemocraticwomen ounter-
parts. emocratsre more ikelyhanRepublicansobelieve hatwomen rom heir arty ouldbe betterable to handleeducation.Twenty-sixercent fDemocrats elieve hat emocratic omenrebetterable to handleeducation hanDemocraticmen,whereasustunder 0 percentfRepublicanselievethat
Republicanwomen re better ble to handle
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Sanbonmatsu,olan /Gender tereotypes 89
Table 3Partisans valuate TheirParties: ssueCompetency
Education Crime
Democratic Republican Democratic RepublicanRespondents Respondents Respondents Respondents(/i 273;%) (w= 215;%) (n= 272;%) (n= 214;%)
ManGreat eal better 2.0 4.2 5.4 9.6
Moderatelyetter 0.5 3.6 5.3 17.9
Slightlyetter 1.6 0.4 3.4 7.7Subtotal 4.1 8.1 14.1 35.1
Equally oocVbad 70.0 72.1 78.9 62.1
Woman
Slightlyetter 4.9 3.5 0.2 0
Moderatelyetter 12.8 13.9 1.0 2.2Great ealbetter 8.3 2.4 5.9 0.6
Subtotal 26.0 19.7 7.0 2.8
Note:Frequencieseflectartisans'valuationsf themen/womenftheirwnparty.
educationhan epublican en.Meanwhile,epubli-cansaremore ikely hanDemocratso believe hatmen n their artywouldbe betterble to handlecrime: 35 percentof Republicansbelieve that
Republican enwould e betterble to handle rimethanRepublican omen,whereasnly14percentfDemocrats elievethatDemocraticmenwould bebetterbletohandle rime han emocratic omen.
This findingreveals a potentialproblemforRepublican oman andidates.mongheir wnpar-tisandentifiers,epublican omen ain ess benefitthando Democraticwomenfrom stereotypenwhichwomen reusually erceiveds more ompe-tenteducation)nd re valuateds less ompetentncrime.t seems learthat mongRepublicandenti-fiers, endertereotypeshat enefit omen re ess
importanthan hose hatwork gainstwomen's er-ceived ompetence.
We see the same potentialdisadvantagefor
Republicanwomennabortion.able demonstrates
that emocratsremoreikelyo ee genderifferencewithinheir artyhan reRepublicans.bout alf fDemocraticespondentsee a genderifferencemongDemocratsnCongressn ermsf heikelihoodf ak-
ing strongro-choiceosition,omparedo about 3
percentfRepublicanespondentsho eea difference
among epublicansnCongress.hese tatisticso notindicate hetheromenredisadvantagedy he bor-tion tereotype,owever.We thereforeompare he
stereotypeo he espondents'bortionositions.We examinethosepartisanswho believe that
womenremore iberalnabortion,omparing
heir
personalbortiontances ith heirerceptionsf he
congresswomen's ositions.Only 8 percentof
Republicans oth akea strong ro-choice ositionthemselvesthatbortionhould e egalunder ll cir-cumstances)ndviewRepublican omennCongressas moreikelyhan epublican en o take hat osi-tion. ythismeasure, epublican omen readvan-
tagedby the abortiontereotypeith8 percentf
Republicans.owever,5percentfRepublicansakea positionnabortionther han strongro-choicestancend eeRepublican omen s moreikelyobe
pro-choice.hereforeheperceptionhatRepublicanwomenare more liberalon abortion dvantagesRepublican omenwith percentfRepublicansut
disadvantageshemwith 5percentfRepublicans.Unlikehe ituationfRepublican omen,he bor-
tion tereotypes somewhatf a washfor emocraticwomen.Twenty-one ercent f Democrats ake a
strongpro-choicepositionand see Democraticwomen s moreikelyhan emocratic en otake
strong ro-choice osition.Meanwhile, emocraticwomen are disadvantagedwith 19 percentofDemocrats: 9percentf Democratsake positionon abortionther han strong ro-choicetance ndviewDemocratic omen s more ikely o take hat
position. verall, endertereotypeseemto disad-
vantage epublican omenmore han hey isadvan-
tageDemocratic omen.
Finally, e considerhe ffect fpartydentifica-tion ngendertereotypessing multivariatenaly-sis.We examine hedeterminantsf voters' ender
stereotypes,singdichotomous ersionsof the
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490 PoliticalResearchQuarterly
Table4Partisans valuateTheirParties:Abortion
Democratic Republican
Respondents Respondents
(n=
270;%) (w=
213;%)Man
Greatdeal more ikely 4.5 1 7
Moderatelymore ikely 2.4 2.8
Slightlymore ikely 1 3 5.6
Subtotal 8.2 10.0
Equally likely 50.8 57.3
Woman
Slightlymore ikely 13.7 4.8
Moderatelymore ikely 1 .4 1 .9
Greatdeal more ikely 13.9 8.9
Subtotal 41.0 32.6
Note: Frequencies eflect artisans' valuations f themen/women
oftheir wnparty.
stereotypeeasuresnd a logistic egression odel.We code thedependentariableuch hat indicates
subscriptionothedominanttereotype,nd0 indi-cates otherwise. e thereforexamine hedetermi-nantsf he iew hatwomenrebetterbletohandleeducation,hatmen rebetterble todealwithrime,and hatwomen ake moreiberal ositionn abor-tion.The main ndependentariables f nterestretwodummy ariables orpartisandentification
one for emocratndone forndependent.We controlor espondentenderswell s several
additional emographicariables. ducation angesfrom to 7, from ighth radeor less throughnadvanced egree. ace s coded1forwhite nd0 fornonwhite. e also control or ge.We calculated
political nowledgecore or llrespondents,hich s
simplyhe um ffour uestionshatskrespondentsto dentifyolitical igures.4hispolitical nowledgescore anges rom to4,dependingnthenumberfcorrectnswers.We controlor he rdern whichheissue nd
partyuestionsere sked. nthe bortion
model,we include herespondent'sbortionositionbecause the abortiontem s a position tereotype,ratherhan competencytereotype.bortionangesfrom to4,fromabortionhould ever epermitted"to "a womanhould lways e able toobtain n abor-tion s a matterfpersonalhoice."
Wefindhat artisandentifications a significantpredictorf the tereotype easuresnthree f sixinstancessee Table5). Democratsremore ikelythanRepublicansto believe thatwomen bothDemocratic nd Republican are better ble to
handle ducationnCongress.artylso mattersorassessmentsf Republicans n crime:Democratic
respondentsre less likely hanRepublican espon-dents o viewRepublicanmen nCongresss betteron crime hanRepublican omen. espondentartydoesnotpredict erceptionsfpoliticians'bortion
positions.These multivariateesultsndicate hatpartisanidentificationredictsssue ompetencyutnot ssue
positiontereotypes,onsistent ith hefindingsfSanbonmatsu2003).Moreover,hedirectionf theeffectsndicateshat emocratsremoreikelyhan
Republicans o hold favorable tereotypesboutwoman oliticiansnd re ess ikelyoholdunfavor-ablestereotypes.
We also findn Table5 that olitical nowledgepredictsll three endertereotypesbout emocratic
politicians ut not the gender tereotypesbout
Republican oliticians.5 hy his s thecase is notclear.Pastresearch as found hat olitical nowl-
edgepredictsssuepositionutnot ssue ompetencystereotypesSanbonmatsu003). It is possible hat,owing to the prevalence f Democraticwomen
among lectedwomen, nowledgeableoters avemorenformationbout he ehaviorndpositionsfDemocratic omenhanRepublican omen.
Conclusion
Much an be learnedbout andidatesn the asis
ofsimple uessuch s genderndparty. lthoughtis oftenrgued hat nygenderffect illdisappearin thepresencef thepartyue,wefind hat enderstereotypesranscendarty.hus hepresencefthe
partyue doesnotpreclude rolefor andidateen-der.BothDemocraticndRepublican oliticiansrebelieved odifferygendernperceivedssuecom-
petencynd ssuepositions.This researchontributesothedebate bout he
intersectionfgenderndpartytereotypesy tudy-ingperceivedssuecompetency,hich cholars adnotyet xamined or achparty. epublican omen
maybe less ikely obenefitromssuecompetencystereotypesmong epublicanotershan emocraticwomen oamong emocraticoters. ombined iththemain ffectfrespondentartisandentificationongendertereotypes,he vidence romhis rticle
suggestshat endertereotypesave omewhatif-ferentonsequences or hetwoparties.n general,Democratsremoreikelyoholdgendertereotypesthat enefit omennpolitics. emocratsremore
likelythanRepublicans o see an advantage orwomen n the ssueof educationndare ess ikely
than epublicanso seea men dvantagen the ssue
of crime.
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Sanbonmatsu,olan /Gender tereotypes 91
Table 5Multivariate nalysis f GenderStereotypes
EducationPreferWoman) CrimePrefer an) AbortionWomanMoreLiberal)
Democrats Republicans Democrats Republicans Democrats Republicans
Democrat 0.657* 0.299) 0.656* 0.287) -0.513(0.312) -1.258** 0.314) 0.233(0.276) -0.041(0.279)Independent 0.644* 0.316) 0.101(0.318) -0.507(0.336) -1.336** 0.335) 0.123(0.270) -0.239(0.290)Woman -0.394(0.255) -0.401(0.257) -0.618* 0.283) -0.088(0.273) 0.383(0.216) -0.188(0.220)Age -0.009 (0.008) -0.005 (0.008) -0.007 (0.009) -0.009 (0.009) -0.026** 0.008) 0.005 0.007)Education -0.137(0.084) -0.053(0.080) -0.310** 0.101) -0.090(0.095) -0.025(0.081) -0.052(0.076)Race white) -0.044(0.286) 0 0.839* 0.394) 0.204(0.420) 0.582* 0.280) 0.303(0.281)Political nowledge 0.287* 0.129) 0.183 0.129) 0.375* 0.159) 0.035 0.149) 0.442** 0.122) 0.189 0.118)Partyrder -0.389(0.229) -0.168(0.229) 0.329(0.262) -0.182(0.264) -0.346(0.205) 0.520* 0.213)Issueorder -0.540* 0.229) -0.334(0.231) 0.509* 0.257) 0.917** 0.246)Abortion - 0.063(0.098) 0.404** 0.105)Intercept 0.422(0.733) -0.450(0.766) -2.12* (0.823) -1.181(0.854) -0.315(0.601) -3.158** 0.639)Initialog-likelihood -350.94 -343.45 -298.07 -314.62 -417.28 -386.61Finalog-likelihood -333.69 -333.45 -269.69 -283.64 -391.10 -364.61
WM%2(df) 24.76(9)** 15.69(9) 30.12(9)** 38.80(9)** 35.19(9)** 32.52(9)**n 632 630 631 630 615 612
Note:Democratnd ndependentrecoded0 and1 respectively.artyrderquals1when emocraticarty uestionsppear irstnd2 whenRepublicanartyuestionsppear irst.ssue orderquals1 when rimeppears irstnd2 when ducationppears irst.
*p<.05. **/?<. 1.
Overall, endertereotypesppearobemore etri-mentalo the lectoralhances fRepublican omenthanDemocraticwomen.As Republicanwoman
potentialandidatesvaluatehedecision o run ndestimateheirhances f success, hey re ikely o
takethese tereotypesnto ccount.t maybe thatRepublicanoters, ho remoreikelyo hold con-servativeoliticalnd ocial deology,ave essconfi-denceaboutwomen's bilities n general. n this
sample, epublicans ere ess ikelyhan emocratstoseewomen s well suitedmotionallyor oliticscomparedo men.Alternatively,deological ssess-ments fRepublican omenmaypartlyxplain he
competencyesults.ngeneral,epublican omenre
thoughtoprovideoters ith mixedmessage: lib-eral cue gender and a conservativeue party
(Dolan2004;Koch2000).King ndMatland2003)have uggestedhat hebeliefhatwomenre ess conservativehanmen utswomen t a disadvantagen Republican arty ri-maries.Republicanwomenwho haveenteredon-
gressionalprimarieswin at the same rates as
Republicanmen (Lawless and Pearson 2008).However, elativelyewRepublicanwomenhaveenteredepublicanrimaries,ontributingothe ur-rent artisanmbalancemongwomennCongress.As Elder (2008) pointsout,Republican ains in
Congress aveoccurredn the outh,which s not
particularlyospitableegion orwoman andidates.
We do notmean o claim hat emocratic omenface levelplayingieldwhen heyun or ongress.For example,Democraticwomen re much more
likely o run ndwin nsome ypes fcongressionaldistrictshanothersPalmer nd Simon2006). In
addition,och 2001)found hathe deologytereo-type utDemocratic omen t a disadvantagengen-eral election races for Congress,thoughthis
stereotypemay explainwhyDemocraticwomenattract orevotes hanDemocraticmen nprimaryelectionsLawless ndPearson 008).
Ourresearch as expandedhegender tereotyperesearchn deology yexaminingerceivedbortion
positionswithin ach party.Although emocraticwomen re disadvantagedith omevoters y theabortiontereotype,he eliefhat omen remoreib-eralon abortionsmore
onsequentialor
Republicanwomen.Republicans'bortioniews remuchmore
likelyoput hem toddswith he erceivedositionf
Republican omenhan reDemocraticoters' iewsaboutDemocratic omen.n this ase,the tereotypecouldput onservativeepublican omen t a disad-
vantage ecausevotersmay naccuratelyelieve hatall Republicanwomen repro-choice. t the sametime, och 2001)finds hathe ccuracyfvoterer-ceptionsfRepublican omens likelyodepend nthedistrict.istricts ithmore ducatednd awarevotersremore ikely operceivehe iberal bortion
positionsfRepublican omen orrectly.
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492 Political ResearchQuarterly
One issue raised ythisfindings whetherhesestereotypesfwomenndmen re ccurate. owever,there re noobjectivemeasuresf ssuecompetencyagainstwhichwe can udge respondenterceptions.
Ourmeasurexamines hethereople xpectwomenormen o be "better"thandlingducationrcrime,whichs a differentvaluationhanwhether omen rmen takeparticularositionsn these ssues. Like
Huddy nd Terkildsen1993),we believe hat hese
competencyxpectationsre most ikely ootednsocialstereotypesboutmen and womenn generalthat re applied n a political ontext. uddy ndTerkildsen1993) find hat ssuecompetencytereo-
typesre argelyrivenybeliefs bout ender-linkedpersonalityraits.pecifically,hey ind hat eopleexpecthat andidates ithwarm ndexpressiveer-
sonalitytraits traits typicallyassociated withwomen would be morecompetentt compassionissues ike ducationnd that hosewithmore nstru-mental raits traitsypicallyssociatedwithmenwould e bettertmilitarynd conomicssues.
With egardothe bortionositiontereotype,ecanmore asily valuatehe ccuracyfvoters'tereo-types.nfact,tudiesfthe ctualssuepositionsndvotingehaviorf andidatesndmembersfCongressfind hatwomen regenerally ore iberalhanmen,particularlyn social ssuesKoch2000,2001;Swers2002;Evans2005).Ourfindinghat oters erceive
womeno be moreikelyo take liberal ositionn
abortionhanmen s consistentith oliticians'ctual
positions.urfindinghat otersremoreikelyo eea genderifferencemong emocraticoliticianshan
among Republicans s also consistentwithpast
research.or xample,wers2002)findshat omanmembersf theU.S. HouseofRepresentativesnthe103rd nd104th ongressesn eachparty eremoreliberal han heirmencolleagues. owever,he alsodemonstrateshatRepublican omen hanged heirbehavior n abortions theRepublicanartymovedfrom heminorityo themajorityn theU.S. House,which signals the more contingentehaviorof
Republicanomen.his atternfmixediberalismnabortionolicy y Republican omennCongresssechoed yDodson2006).Democraticomen'sreaterliberalismn abortionppears o be more onsistent
than epublican omen'siberalism.In theend,thisresearch ffersupport orthenotion hatwomen nd menwho runfor fficereviewed hrough ultipleensesbya public mploy-ing range fstereotypes.o thedegree hat eoplecontinueo see womenndmen spossessingiffer-ent issue competenciesnd taking ifferentssue
positions, omenwillhaveto anticipateowtheseinfluences ight hape heirandidacies. ndto the
degree that people perceive Democratic and
Republicanwomendifferently,hese data suggestthat hese nfluences ill play out differentlyor
womenn the woparties.
AppendixVariable Names
2006 AmericanNationalElection tudiesPilotStudy Crime tereotypeDemocrats),V06P748, V06P749; education tereotype(Democrats),V06P751,V06P752; crime tereotypeRepublicans),V06P754, V06P755; education tereotypeRepublicans),V06P757,V06P758;abortiontereotypeDemocrats),V06P760, V06P761; abortiontereotype(Republicans),V06P763,V06P764; partydentification,06P680;
gender, 06P005; party rder, 06P428; issueorder, 06P429
2004AmericanNationalElection Age,V043250; education, 043254; politicalknowledgecale,StudiesTimeSeriesStudy V0451 2,V0451 3,V0451 4,V0451 5 race,V043299; abortion, 0451 2
Notes
1. The 2006 AmericanNationalElection Studies ANES) Pilot
Studyfull release (dataset),producedand distributedy Stanford
Universitynd theUniversityfMichigan.The 2006 ANES Pilot
Studyconsists of 675 telephone nterviews onducted betweenNovember13,2006, andJanuary , 2007. The pilot study einter-viewedrespondents rom he 2004 ANES time seriesstudy.The
reinterviewatewas 56.3 percent. weight ariable s used to take
into accountsampling nd poststratificationactors. his variable
also takes nto ccount 2006 nonresponse ased on age and educa-
tional attainment.We mergethepilotdata with the 2004 ANES
time eriesstudy ogainadditionalvariablesfor uranalysis.See
http://www.electionstudies.org.2. Please see theappendixfor listof variable numbers.3. The partyversions of the stereotype tems are positively
correlated: = .58 for ducation,r= .47 for rime, nd r= .45 for
abortion.
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Sanbonmatsu,Dolan / GenderStereotypes 493
4. The politicalknowledge questionsasked therespondent o
identifyhe ob or politicalofficeheld by fourpolitical figures:Dennis Hastert, ick Cheney,TonyBlair,and WilliamRehnquist.We acknowledge herecent eport rom heANES titled Problems
with heANES QuestionsMeasuringPoliticalKnowledge,"which
urges caution in the use of these questions from 2004 (seehttp://www.electionstudies.org/announce/newsltr/20080324PoliticalKnowledgeMemo.pdf).
5. However, f therespondent's bortionposition s excluded,
politicalknowledge redictsheRepublican tereotypen abortion.
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