Abstract: Partisanship is the primary driver of voter decision-making in the United States. Even when partisans learn negative information about their candidate, motivated reasoning often limits the extent to which they will change their evaluations or vote choice. However, there is evidence of a “tipping point” at which partisans will update their prior beliefs about their party’s candidate. This study seeks to determine whether that tipping point comes earlier when voters see a woman running in their party and under what circumstances. Are voters less likely to “forgive” female candidates about whom they uncover negative or partisan-incongruent information? We use a unique experimental design in which we vary a candidate’s gender, their congruence with the party platform, and their participation in a scandal. We then ask participants to learn about and evaluate the candidates they see. We find that women are evaluated more negatively and are less likely to receive votes in some negative information conditions, while men are more negatively impacted in others. Critically, subjects rely on substantive information more when evaluating female candidates. This includes information about them but also information about their opponents.
