Voting Cues in Low-Information Elections: Candidate Gender as a Social Information Variable in Contemporary United States Elections

Abstract

Theories of low-information voting are used to examine the effectof candidate demographic characteristics on voting behavior, specificallycandidate gender. For voters in low-information elections, candidategender operates as a social information cue signaling that womencandidates are more liberal than men candidates of the same party.As a result, the gender of a candidate affects ideological voting.Logistic regression analysis is performed on data from the 1986 through1994 American National Election Studies. Women Democratic candidatesfare better than men Democratic candidates among more liberal votersand worse among conservative voters, especially those with minimalknowledge of the candidates. The effect is less clear with Republicanwomen candidates who provide conflicting informational cues (womanand Republican).