Abstract
Many U.S. elections provide voters with precious little information about candidates on the ballot. In local contests, party labels are often absent. In primary elections, party labels are not useful. Indeed, much of the time, voters have only the name of the candidate to go by. In these contexts, how do voters make decisions? Using several experiments, we find that voters use candidates’ race, ethnicity, and gender as cues for whom to support—penalizing candidates of color and benefiting women. But we also demonstrate that providing even a small amount of information to voters—such as candidate occupation—virtually erases the effects of candidate demographics on voter behavior, even among voters with high levels of racial and gender prejudice.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Urban Affairs Review |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2019 |
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Keywords
- American politics
- and politics
- ethnicity
- experimental research
- gender and politics
- local elections
- political behavior
- race
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
- Urban Studies
Cite this
Voting Can Be Hard, Information Helps. / Crowder-Meyer, Melody; Gadarian, Shana Kushner; Trounstine, Jessica.
In: Urban Affairs Review, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Voting Can Be Hard, Information Helps
AU - Crowder-Meyer, Melody
AU - Gadarian, Shana Kushner
AU - Trounstine, Jessica
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Many U.S. elections provide voters with precious little information about candidates on the ballot. In local contests, party labels are often absent. In primary elections, party labels are not useful. Indeed, much of the time, voters have only the name of the candidate to go by. In these contexts, how do voters make decisions? Using several experiments, we find that voters use candidates’ race, ethnicity, and gender as cues for whom to support—penalizing candidates of color and benefiting women. But we also demonstrate that providing even a small amount of information to voters—such as candidate occupation—virtually erases the effects of candidate demographics on voter behavior, even among voters with high levels of racial and gender prejudice.
AB - Many U.S. elections provide voters with precious little information about candidates on the ballot. In local contests, party labels are often absent. In primary elections, party labels are not useful. Indeed, much of the time, voters have only the name of the candidate to go by. In these contexts, how do voters make decisions? Using several experiments, we find that voters use candidates’ race, ethnicity, and gender as cues for whom to support—penalizing candidates of color and benefiting women. But we also demonstrate that providing even a small amount of information to voters—such as candidate occupation—virtually erases the effects of candidate demographics on voter behavior, even among voters with high levels of racial and gender prejudice.
KW - American politics
KW - and politics
KW - ethnicity
KW - experimental research
KW - gender and politics
KW - local elections
KW - political behavior
KW - race
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062016749&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85062016749&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1078087419831074
DO - 10.1177/1078087419831074
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85062016749
JO - Urban Affairs Review
JF - Urban Affairs Review
SN - 1078-0874
ER -