The impact of parental status on the visibility and evaluations of politicians

Abstract

In increasingly personalised electoral contests, voters use evaluations of candidates’ personal characteristics in their vote decisions, and candidates deploy personal information about themselves which they believe convey a positive message in their communications with voters. We expand the study of candidate characteristics to include parental status, examining the public’s view of politicians with and without children and the behaviour of politicians in their communications with voters. Men and women are equally likely to refer to their children regardless of party. We find a preference for candidates who are parents and no punishment effect for women politicians with children. Our findings, from a British study, contradict some of the research from the United States which finds that voters’ reactions to candidates’ parental status vary depending on candidate gender; as such, our results suggest that political and cultural context are important factors determining the role gender plays in political behaviour.