Friday, June 02, 2006

Female Candidates, Issues, and Political Proselytizing: Understanding Why Women Talk About Politics

Abstract: "Previous research has demonstrated that the presence of a woman on a major party ballot is linked to increased attempts at political persuasion among women (Hansen 1997). Yet, this type of political engagement is enhanced when certain contextual conditions are met (e.g. Atkenson 2003). In this study, we hypothesize that female citizens are more likely to engage in political persuasion when female candidates are on the ballot and when female candidates on the ballot stress women s issues. Using 2002 and 2004 NES, we find that the presence of a woman on the ballot increases proselytizing overall but does not significantly increase political influence attempts among women. We also find that while the combined effect of candidate gender and candidate issues is positively related to proselytizing among women, economic issues, not women s issues increase women s attempts to influence others votes." Source: Institute of Governmental Studies. Paper WP2006-24. University of California, Berkeley.

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