Fertility and race perception predict voter preference for Barack Obama

Abstract

Research shows that women more positively evaluate targets evincing cues of high male genetic quality as a function of fertility across the menstrual cycle. Recently, a link between fertility and anti-black race bias has also been documented, an effect that is argued to serve a sexual coercion avoidance function. Here we demonstrate that both effects can be operative toward the same male target depending on inter-individual differences in race perception of the target. Across two studies, we found that the intention to vote for Barack Obama in the months preceding the 2008 election increased as a function of conception risk across the menstrual cycle. In the second study, we found that the effect is greatest among women who perceived him as more white than black, whereas the opposite was true among women who perceived him as mostly black. Our findings tie together separate conceptual research threads on positive and negative evaluations of men by women across the menstrual cycle — integrating them to shed light on women's voting preferences.