Gender Differences in Campaign Messages: The Political Advertisements of Men and Women Candidates for U.S. Senate

Abstract

In order to see whether men and women emphasize different messages in their campaigns, I examine the televised political advertisements of 38 candidates for the U.S. Senate between 1984 and 1986. In addition, I look at patterns of campaign coverage to determine whether the press distinguish between male and female candidates. Since a candidate's message will be most persuasive if that message is echoed by the press, gender differences in press treatment can have electoral consequences. The results of this study show that male and female senatorial candidates adopt campaign strategies that are similar on certain dimensions and strikingly different on others. Male and female candidates both prefer to focus on policy matters in their candidate-oriented appeals, although they rarely take specific stands on issues. Yet there are important gender differences in the advertisements of male and female candidates and these differences correspond to the candidates' stereotypical strengths. Men tend to concentrate on economic issues, while women are much more likely to discuss social issues such as education and health policy. These differences (and others), although evident in their own campaign communications, are not represented in media coverage of the candidates' campaigns.