The Effects of Gender and Race in Asian American Women’s Political Campaigns

Results

Evaluations of Women Candidates by Race

In evaluations of Asian American women candidates and white women candidates presented without gendered traits (neither masculine nor feminine; see example vignette below), participants rated Asian American women candidates as:

• More qualified than white women candidates to be presidential contenders, U.S. senators, U.S. representatives, founders of social organizations, and speakers of the House;
• More likely than white women candidates to handle masculine, feminine, and racial issues well;
• Better described than white women candidates by both masculine (e.g. coarse, stern, masculine, rational, self-confident) and feminine (e.g. warm, gentle, feminine, talkative, empathic) traits; and
• More liberal than white women candidates.

Additionally, when Asian American and white women candidates were evaluated in this control condition (without gendered traits), participants:

• Expressed greater likelihood of voting for Asian American women candidates than for white women candidates; and
• Rated Asian American women candidates more favorably than white women candidates.

 

Effects of Gendered Traits on Candidate Evaluations

We found that communicating gendered traits in a campaign message affects voting behavior and preferences toward white women more positively than Asian American women. In general, voters had more positive attitudes toward white women who were presented with feminine or masculine traits in the vignette than white women presented with no gendered traits. On the other hand, Asian American women presented with gendered traits were evaluated negatively compared to the Asian American women presented with no gendered traits (feminine or masculine).

We tested the effects of employing gendered traits on multiple measures of candidate evaluation. Across multiple evaluation criteria, gendered traits in campaign messages turned out to benefit white women candidates, but this finding did not hold for Asian Women candidates.

• Likelihood of Voting: Participants were less likely to say that they would vote for Asian American women when those women were presented as having feminine or masculine traits. In contrast, there was no statistically significant differences in participants’ likelihood of voting for white women when they were presented with or without gendered traits.
• Perceived Qualifications:
  • Participants evaluated Asian American women presented with masculine traits as being less qualified to be a U.S. senator or a founder of a social organization than Asian American presented with no gendered traits. Asian American women presented with feminine traits were evaluated as less qualified to be a presidential contender than Asian American women presented without gendered traits.
  • White women presented with masculine traits were evaluated as more qualified to be a speaker of the House than white women presented without gendered traits. White women presented with feminine traits were evaluated as more qualified to be a founder of social organizations than white women presented without gendered traits.
  • There were no statistically significant differences in participants’ evaluations of white women and Asian American women’s qualifications to be U.S. representatives regardless of gendered trait presentation.
• Favorability: Asian American women presented with masculine traits were viewed less favorably than Asian American women presented without gendered traits.
• Ideology: Participants evaluated white women as more liberal when they were presented with feminine traits in the vignette. In contrast, no significant difference exists in how participants evaluated Asian American women’s ideology regardless of their presentation style.
• Issue Expertise: Participants did not evaluate Asian American or white women candidates differently on their capacity to handle issues well when they were presented with masculine traits, feminine traits, or without gendered traits.

 

Implications

This study reveals area of advantage for Asian American women candidates in comparison to white women candidates on various measures of candidate evaluation, something that may stand in contrast to expectations and demonstrates the importance of research that looks at the multiple identities that women candidates bring to elections. At the same time, our findings suggest that white women may have access to a wider range of presentation strategies.

Relatedly, this research demonstrates the importance of testing campaign messages and modes with attentiveness to both gender and race/ethnicity. As is evident in the findings, messages that are especially effective for Asian American women do not function in the same way for white women and vice versa. Too often, both researchers and practitioners make claims about effective strategies for “women” without evaluating these intersectional complexities. More specifically, the findings from this research can inform candidates’ campaign strategy. Based on these findings:

• Employing gendered traits in campaign messages is more influential, overall, for white women than Asian American women candidates. White women candidates should consider employing these traits in candidate presentation, with specific attention to the office for which they are running.
• Addressing political issues in campaign messages may benefit Asian American women candidates in the political campaign, as they are evaluated more highly on these issues than their white women counterparts. Compared to white women, participants also reviewed Asian American women as more aligned with masculine traits. There is no evidence that presenting Asian American with gendered traits will significantly shape voters’ evaluation of this policy expertise.

More research and empirical tests are warranted to fully understand campaign presentation styles that will most benefit Asian American women candidates, as well as areas of electoral advantage that Asian American women candidates have in comparison to women candidates in other racial and ethnic groups.

 

Dan Qi is a visiting assistant professor of political science at Reed College. Cana Kim is a postdoctoral research scholar at the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University.

Suggested Citation: Qi, Dan, and Cana Kim. 2023. "The Effects of Gender and Race in Asian American Women’s Political Campaigns" Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

Appendix

Experimental Design

Vignette Text - Non-Gendered Traits

With Election Day drawing closer, Democratic/Republican Candidate Sandra Hartley/Sandra Lee attended a rally today to talk about her message of change with members of the community.

She expressed the need for new voices in Washington. Speaking to voters, she exclaimed, “I’m the only candidate who is working for our community, and I know how difficult it is to make ends meet. People today need relief.” Her campaign has emphasized improving conditions for Americans.

With increasing supporters in the community embracing her cause, her campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks. Her approach to politics resonates with voters throughout the state. Judy Smith, a long-time resident of the district said of the candidate, “I feel like she understands the challenges facing our community, and we need someone like that representing us.”

Vignette Text - Masculine Traits

With Election Day drawing closer, Democratic/Republican Candidate Sandra Hartley/Sandra Lee attended a rally today to talk about her message of change with members of the community.

She expressed the need for new tough and assertive voices in Washington. Speaking to voters she exclaimed, “I’m the only candidate who works hard and takes bold actions, and I She expressed the need for new tough and assertive voices in Washington. Speaking to voters she exclaimed, “I’m the only candidate who works hard and takes bold actions, and I know how difficult it is to make ends meet. People today need courage.” Her campaign has emphasized improving conditions for Americans.

With increasing supporters in the community embracing her cause, her campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks. Her aggressive and outspoken approach to politics resonates with voters throughout the state. Judy Smith, a long-time resident of the district said of the candidate, “I feel like she really stands up to challenges facing our community, and we need someone like that representing us.”
 

Vignette Text - Feminine Traits

With Election Day drawing closer, Democratic/Republican Candidate Sandra Hartley/Sandra Lee attended a rally today to talk about her message of change with members of the community.

She expressed the need for new compassionate and sensitive voices in Washington. Speaking to voters, she exclaimed, "I'm the only candidate who sincerely cares about and is honest with our community, and I know how difficult it is to make ends meet. Our community today needs trust." Her campaign has emphasized improving conditions for Americans.

With increasing supporters in the community embracing her cause, her campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks. Her caring and nurturing approach to politics resonates with voters throughout the state. Judy Smith, a long-time resident of the district, said of the candidate, "I feel like she really cares about the challenges facing our community, and we need someone like that representing us."

Respondent Sample

Palan & Schitter (2018) outline the Prolific's suitability as an alternative and effective online experiment tool compared to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for social and economic science experiments. We recruited a total of 1,539 adults in the U.S. to participate in the online panel.

Study (n=1539)
AAPI Women	White Women
Feminine Traits, n = 255	Feminine Traits, n = 257
Masculine Traits, n = 255	Masculine Traits , n = 257
No Gendered Traits, n = 257	No Gendered Traits, n = 258

Respondent Demographics

The table below shows the demographic variables of our sample compared to the 2020 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES). Compared to the 2020 CCES, the Prolific sample had fewer women, skew younger generations (younger than 44), and oversampled Democrats. Gender, age, and political partisanship dynamics could lead to biased evaluations of the female candidate, as younger democrats prefer female candidates and male respondents prefer male representation field (Sanbonmatsu, 2002). However, previous studies show the bias didn't  occur with the similar oversampled situation of Mturk and SSI compared to other online survey platform samples (Krupnikov et al., 2016). Women of color are perceived as Democrats more and run as Democrats more (Fraga et al., 2020), which also justifies our sample.

	Prolific	2020 CCES
% Women	51.41%	57.72%
% Democrats	69.98%	37.29%
% Independent	/	28.04%
% Republicans	30.02%	24.96
% White	74.95%	72.34%
Age
18-24	13.45%	9.77%
25-44	54.06%	34.76%
45-64	25.41%	34.32%
65+	7.08%	21.16%

References

Fraga, B. L., Shah, P., & Juenke, E. G. (2020). Did Women and Candidates of Color Lead or Ride the Democratic Wave in 2018? PS: Political Science & Politics, 53(3), 435–439. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520000268 

Krupnikov, Y., Piston, S., & Bauer, N. M. (2016). Saving Face: Identifying Voter Responses to Black Candidates and Female Candidates. Political Psychology, 37(2), 253–273. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12261

Palan, S., & Schitter, C. (2018). Prolific.ac—A subject pool for online experiments. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 17, 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2017.12.004

Sanbonmatsu, K. (2002). Gender Stereotypes and Vote Choice. American Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 20–34. https://doi.org/10.2307/3088412

 

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