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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

This content downloaded from 158.109.174.204 on Wed, 30 Oct 2013 16:42:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions






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







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







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



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







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








Table4Partisans valuateTheirParties:Abortion

Democratic Republican

Respondents Respondents

(n=

270;%) (w=

213;%)Man

Greatdeal more ikely 4.5 1 7


Slightlymore ikely 1 3 5.6

Subtotal 8.2 10.0

Equally likely 50.8 57.3

Woman


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.







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.







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.







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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