Differently Divisive: Sexism, Racial Resentment, and Voter Support for Candidates with Incongruent Views

Abstract

To what extent do sexism-related views influence Americans' voting behavior? Gender-related issues are increasingly salient, but whether they will consolidate into a durable cleavage hinges on their relationship with pre-existing divides like race. Prior work has frequently considered racial and gender divisions separately, leaving questions about their interplay and differences unanswered. Employing a novel two-wave panel design in 2019-2020, we examine how cross-pressured respondents make trade-offs when they agree with candidate statements on one dimension but not the other. We find that gender progressives sometimes prioritize issue fit on gender. However, respondents holding sexist views rarely reward candidates espousing those same views, incentivizing most candidates to avoid such stances. By contrast, respondents penalize candidates disagreeing with them on racially charged issues, results which persist in a 2023 survey. Though respondents hold strong views on gender-related issues, these views do not presently structure political competition to the extent that racial positions do.