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Do Voters Dislike Working-Class Candidates? Voter Biases and the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class

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  • CARNES, NICHOLAS
  • LUPU, NOAM

Abstract

In most democracies, lawmakers tend to be vastly better off than the citizens who elect them. Is that because voters prefer more affluent politicians over leaders from working-class backgrounds? In this article, we report the results of candidate choice experiments embedded in surveys in Britain, the United States, and Argentina. Using conjoint designs, we asked voters in these different contexts to choose between two hypothetical candidates, randomly varying several of the candidates’ personal characteristics, including whether they had worked in blue-collar or white-collar jobs. Contrary to the idea that voters prefer affluent politicians, the voters in our experiments viewed hypothetical candidates from the working class as equally qualified, more relatable, and just as likely to get their votes. Voters do not seem to be behind the shortage of working-class politicians. To the contrary, British, American, and Argentine voters seem perfectly willing to cast their ballots for working-class candidates.

Suggested Citation

  • Carnes, Nicholas & Lupu, Noam, 2016. "Do Voters Dislike Working-Class Candidates? Voter Biases and the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(4), pages 832-844, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:110:y:2016:i:04:p:832-844_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Karen O. Caballero Armendariz & Ben Farrer & Monica Martinez, 2020. "Badge of Courage or Sign of Criminality? Experimental Evidence for How Voters Respond to Candidates Who Were Arrested at a Protest," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2203-2219, October.
    2. Alberto López Ortega, 2024. "Do political duos diminish discriminatory voter preferences? Evidence from a combined conjoint experiment," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(1), pages 106-129, March.
    3. Jan Auerbach, 2018. "Office-Holding Premia and Representative Democracy," Discussion Papers 1802, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    4. Charles McCLEAN & ONO Yoshikuni, 2020. "How Do Voters Evaluate the Age of Politicians?," Discussion papers 20069, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Leeper, Thomas J. & Hobolt, Sara & Tilley, James, 2020. "Measuring subgroup preferences in conjoint experiments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100944, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Henrik S Christensen & Marco S La Rosa & Kimmo Grönlund, 2020. "How candidate characteristics affect favorability in European Parliament elections: Evidence from a conjoint experiment in Finland," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(3), pages 519-540, September.
    7. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez & William Kimball & Thomas Kochan, 2022. "What Forms of Representation Do American Workers Want? Implications for Theory, Policy, and Practice," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(2), pages 267-294, March.
    8. Lucie Coufalová & Štěpán Mikula & Michal Ševčík, 2023. "Homophily in voting behavior: Evidence from preferential voting," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 281-300, May.
    9. Miriam Sorace, 2018. "The European Union democratic deficit: Substantive representation in the European Parliament at the input stage," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(1), pages 3-24, March.

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