The Southern Accent as a Heuristic in American Campaigns and Elections

Abstract

Are political candidates perceived differently based on the presence or absence of a southern accent? To address this question, we employ an experimental design that explores reactions to political candidates with a southern accent and a regionally neutral accent. We focus on perceptions of three general categories of candidate characteristics: candidate traits, candidate affect, and candidate issue positions. Overall, we discover that candidates with a southern accent are viewed more negatively, and they are thought to hold more conservative policy positions, than candidates with no discernible accent. Our findings suggest that the southern accent provides a heuristic that affects how voters perceive candidates.

Southern Accents and Partisan Stereotypes: Evaluating Political Candidates

“…Not only does this development provide an identity for southerners, it creates an easy way for "outsiders" to recognize differences, and, perhaps, ascribe stereotypes. And here, as stereotypes often are, those associated with southern accents are generally negative (Amira et al, 2018;Fridland and Bartlett, 2006;Phillips, 2010).…”

“…It is, perhaps, a bit surprising that there is so little empirical research examining the influence candidate accents have on voter perceptions. In fact, to the best of our knowledge, the work by Amira and colleagues (Amira et al, 2018) is the only piece of research that does so, at least in the American context. That said, research examining how accents shape perceptions generally is not uncommon.…”

“…Clearly, there is a preponderance of evidence suggesting that there are negative stereotypes associated with southern accents; yet, to the best of our knowledge, Amira et al (2018) offer the only empirical examination of how these stereotypes may serve as a heuristic to assist voters in their evaluations of candidates. As noted above, our project is largely designed as an extension of their work; their experimental design focused on general accent effects on respondent attitudes about candidate traits such as intelligence, trustworthiness, and honesty, as well as on candidate affect.…”

“…Initially derivative of classical British English, the southern accent underwent a major dialectical change during the Civil War period that decisively differentiated it from the country's other regions (Bailey, 2001). Since then, the traditional southern accent carries with it a host of preconceptions and assumptions based on generations of cultural knowledge, media portrayals, and stereotypes (Amira et al, 2018;Phillips, 2010). It is no secret that residents south of the Mason Dixon line are often perceived as less intelligent, unworldly, inexperienced, and uncivilized (Phillips, 2010).…”

“…While it may be the case that candidates can succeed even in the face of negative stereotypes about their accents, recent experimental work by Amira and her colleagues (Amira et al, 2018) suggests that candidates' southern accents do, indeed, influence citizen perceptions of those candidates. We build on that research here, taking their cue for further examination into whether these effects extend across partisan lines.…”