More Women Candidates: The Effects of Increased Women’s Presence on Political Ambition, Efficacy, and Vote Choice

• DOI: 10.1177/1532673X211006386
• Date: 01 July 2021
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X211006386

American Politics Research

2021, Vol. 49(4) 368 –380

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X211006386

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Article

Even though women remain underrepresented at every level

of government in the U.S., more and more women are run-

ning for office and winning. The midterm elections in 2018

saw a record-breaking number of women candidates and

Congress now has the highest number of women in office in

history. Again, 2020 had the highest number of women can-

didates ever running for congressional office for either major

party. The number of both Democratic and Republican

women running for office has increased, leading scholars,

pundits, and policymakers alike to highlight the importance

of women’s presence in politics (e.g., Davis, 2020; Zhou,

2020). That presence has the power to not only enhance the

substantive representation of women on policy, but also

increase levels of political efficacy and engagement.

Some scholars, however, have found null or, at best, weak

results regarding the impact of women’s presence in politics

(Broockman, 2014; Dolan, 2006; Lawless, 2004; Wolbrecht

& Campbell, 2017) and some have considered whether a

backlash is possible (Krook, 2015). Perceptions of out-group

privilege or in-group threat may make men react negatively

to narratives about women gaining more political power.

Moreover, if the gains are politically one-sided, as they were

in 2018, then any positive effects may be asymmetrical

across party affiliation; the more Democratic women gain

office, Republican women may not experience all of the ben-

efits of descriptive representation. And when people (mis)

perceive the number of women in Congress to be high, they

are then less supportive of electing even more women

(Sanbonmatsu, 2020).

In this study, we use a survey experiment to test whether

being primed about the heightened levels of women running

for office alters reported political ambition, efficacy, and

likelihood to vote for female candidates. We do not find

strong support for the theory that more wome n running leads

to more women running; women were statistically signifi-

cantly more likely to say they would run for office after

hearing about more women candidates, but only when those

women candidates share their party identification.

Republicans a lways had hig her levels of political ambition

after hearing that more women are running, even if those

women are Democrats, but Democrats’ political ambition

was not influenced. We also do not find evidence that

women’s efficacy—or perception that they can influence

government—is positively influenced by description repre-

sentation. More women candidates also did not generally

influence support for female candidates in the future, except

that Republicans were more likely to support a female candi-

date after hearing that women’s presence in their own party

1006386APRXXX10.1177/1532673X211006386American Politics ResearchCosta and Wallace

research-article2021

1Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Mia Costa, Dartmouth College, Silsby Hall, Hanover, NH 03755-3529,

USA.

Email: mia.costa@dartmouth.edu

More Women Candidates: The Effects of

Increased Women’s Presence on Political

Ambition, Efficacy, and Vote Choice

Mia Costa1 and Isabel Wallace1

Abstract

The effect of women in politics is vitally important for the study of representation, yet evidence is mixed on the extent

to which women’s presence influences individuals’ symbolic attitudes and behaviors. We use a priming survey experiment

to examine how information about increased women candidates in the U.S. affects political ambition, efficacy, and future

support for women candidates. We present several different patterns across gender and partisanship. Republicans report

higher political ambition after hearing about more women candidates, even when those women are running for the opposite

party. Men had higher political efficacy in response to more same-party women running, but not opposite-party women.

Importantly, our evidence does not support the widespread notion that women’s presence positively influences women’s

political efficacy or likelihood to vote for female candidates. The findings highlight the importance of considering the effects

of women’s presence not only for the group that is assumed to benefit.

Keywords

gender, descriptive representation, symbolic representation, survey experiment, political efficacy