You seem like a great candidate, but…: race and gender attitudes and the 2020 democratic primary

Abstract

The 2020 Democratic presidential primary unfolded in a context with significant attention to issues of racial and gender inequality and identity. The field began as an historically diverse one but a white male candidate received the party's endorsement. Did the race and gender attitudes of Democratic primary and caucus participants play a role in shaping the pool of candidates? Using a survey of self-identified Democrats, this study provides evidence that racial resentment, hostile sexism, and modern sexism enhanced the assessments on several evaluative criteria of the white male candidate, while depressing the assessment of the Black woman candidate. These relationships are driven primarily by white respondents. These findings add to our understanding of how race and gender attitudes affect the electoral process well before the general election, particularly by shaping the ultimate choice of candidates in that contest.

When Push Comes to Shove: An Experimental Analysis of Voter Support of a Woman President and the 2024 Nomination

“…Of particular importance is the recognition that there exists relatively little symbolic cost to agree that a woman president would be historically significant, but there may be tangible consequences for enacting the belief by voting for a woman candidate. In other words, voter preference may be affected by electoral context (Nelson, 2021).…”

“…Although Democrats are perceived as having fewer sexist attitudes towards women, a more developed political pipeline, more women voters, and more women candidates to choose from, women candidates still have to overcome significant hurdles to earn their party’s nomination and, ultimately, the election. Given what we know about the role of sexism in the 2008, 2016, and 2020 presidential primaries and elections, more generally, as well as the specific link between Republicans, conservatives, and sexism, we suspect that there may be a combination of factors affecting voter choice, and that these factors may differ by party (e.g., Bracic et al, 2019; Dwyer et al, 2009; Franks, 2021; Gervais & Hillard, 2011; Goldman, 2018; Nelson, 2021; Sharrow et al, 2016; Utych, 2021).…”

The Evolution and Implications of Perceptions of Barack Obama's Ideological Positioning

“…In this special issue, some scholars examine the substance of presidential rhetoric and action related to race and ethnicity and describe how presidents' decisions to speak and act have affected racial and ethnic politics in the United States (Flaherty forthcoming 2021;Hero and Levy forthcoming 2021;Lieberman and King forthcoming 2021). Others focus on how citizens' attitudes related to race and ethnicity shape the electoral prospects of candidates for the presidency, whether those candidates are members of minority racial or ethnic groups or not (Filindra et al forthcoming, 2021;Nelson forthcoming 2021). The observation that position taking on key issues can affect the support that presidents and presidential candidates receive serves to tie these two strands of research together.…”

Fear or Loathing: Affect, Political Economy, and Prejudice

“…Although a number of factors may influence attitudes toward perceived outgroups, we focus here on the role of partisanship. The Republican Party in the United States has embraced social narratives that blame racial and ethnic minorities for social problems; as examples, one can point to the racialized rhetoric around welfare spending (Gilens 1999), hostility toward immigration (Nassar 2020;Utych 2018), anti-Islamic rhetoric (Jacobs et al 2019), electoral politics within the United States (Buyuker et al 2021;Hale 2020;Nelsen 2021), support for democracy (Miller and Davis 2021), and racial appeals generally (Christiani 2021). The Democratic Party, conversely, has moved toward greater acceptance of and attention to the demands of racial and ethnic minorities as these groups have become an increasingly important part of the party's social coalition (Black 2004).…”