Traits versus Issues

• Published date: 01 September 2013
• Author: Johanna Dunaway,Melody Rose,Christopher R. Weber,Regina G. Lawrence
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912913491464
• Date: 01 September 2013
• Subject Matter: Mini-Symposium

491464PRQXXX10.1177/1065912913491464Dunaway et al.
research-article2013
Mini-Symposium
Political Research Quarterly
66(3) 715 –726
Traits versus Issues: How Female
© 2013 University of Utah
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Candidates Shape Coverage of Senate and DOI: 10.1177/1065912913491464
prq.sagepub.com
Gubernatorial Races
Johanna Dunaway1, Regina G. Lawrence2, Melody Rose3,
and Christopher R. Weber4
Abstract
As female candidates may face greater challenges in establishing their “qualifications” for office, coverage of their
personal traits may be pernicious, because it tends to de-emphasize substantive qualifications. This study focuses on
relative amounts of trait and issue coverage of contests with and without women candidates. We find that races with
female candidates yield more coverage of traits than male versus male contests and races with female candidates are
less likely to generate issue coverage than trait coverage. Candidate gender and office interact; female gubernatorial
candidates are most likely to garner trait coverage and least likely to engender issue coverage.
Keywords
women and politics, political communication
The presidential election of 2008 featured the first truly
agendas, and the voting public. Evidence clearly indi-
viable female contender for a major party presidential
cates that “campaigns serve to activate predispositions
nomination, and the first Republican female vice presi-
and affect how citizens judge candidates” (Schaffner
dential candidate. The 2010 primary elections featured
2005, p. 805; see also Druckman 2005; Finkel 1993;
female candidates for U.S. Senate and governor, particu-
Iyengar and Kinder 1987), particularly for voters who
larly Republican women, while the 2012 election brought
lack strong party and issue attachments.
a new record for the number of women elected to the
The women and politics literature is currently pre-
Senate. These recent trends are set against a history
mised on a key assumption about news coverage: as
marked by the underrepresentation of elected women
female candidates may face greater challenges in estab-
officials in American government (Bradley and Wicks
lishing their “qualifications” for office (Alexander and
2011; Carroll 2009; Dolan 2004; Han and Heldman 2007;
Andersen 1993; Lawrence and Rose 2009), media atten-
Lawless and Fox 2005; Sanbonmatsu 2006). With more
tion to candidates’ personal traits is thought to be particu-
women from both major parties seeking elected office of
larly pernicious for women candidates, because that
all kinds, the question of how female candidates are cov-
coverage may tend to de-emphasize substantive qualifi-
ered by the news media becomes more pressing and
cations (Aday and Devitt 2001; see also Woodall and
complex.
Fridkin 2003). This study focuses on the relative amounts
Previous research has established the importance of
of trait versus issue stories found in coverage of contests
news coverage to the success of women’s bids for office
with women candidates. Our aim is to better understand
(Bystrom, Robertson, and Banwart 2001, 2004; Fowler
the degree to which levels of trait coverage vary, relative
and Lawless 2009; Kahn 1996) and to the outcome of
elections in general (e.g., Aldrich 1992; Druckman 2005;
Graber 2001), as well as to the issue agendas the voting
1Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
public perceives as salient (Hutchings 1998; Iyengar and
2The University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA
3
Kinder 1987; McCombs and Shaw 1993), and the ability
Oregon University System, Portland, OR, USA
4University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
of the public to learn substantive information about can-
didates (e.g., Flowers, Haynes, and Crespin 2003; Hayes
Corresponding Author:
2008, 2010a; Patterson 1994). Overall, though it is clear
Johanna Dunaway, Department of Political Science and Mass
Communication, Louisiana State University, 240 Stubbs Hall, Baton
that the media are not the lone determinant of election
Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
outcomes, media coverage matters to candidates, issues
Email: jdunaway@lsu.edu

---

716
Political Research Quarterly 66(3)
to issue (and horse race) coverage, according to the gen-
Devitt 2001; see also Woodall and Fridkin 2003, 77). The
der pairings of the opposing candidates running for office.
same study also found that Dole was directly quoted less
We also explore how the level and type of office women
often and paraphrased more often than her (male) oppo-
seek influence the degree of candidate trait coverage in
nents, a finding echoed in Lawrence and Rose’s (2009)
the news. We find that the presence of a female candidate
study of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Falk’s
contributes to the degree to which campaign coverage
(2008, 133) study of female presidential candidates finds
focuses on candidate traits (rather than on substantive
that “the extra issue coverage garnered by men is mostly
issues or the horse race), and that a woman candidate and
converted to character coverage for the women.”
the type of office she seeks interact to produce more can-
Bystrom, Robertson, and Banwart (2001) find that female
didate trait coverage, particularly when women run for
candidates received more mentions of their gender, chil-
governorships.
dren, and marital status, though not of their physical
appearance, while others find more numerous references
Literature Review and Theory
to female candidates’ personality and their physical attri-
butes (Aday and Devitt 2001; Heldman, Carroll, and
News Coverage of Women Candidates
Olson 2005). This latter pattern in coverage has become
so well known among women politicians and the scholars
The literature predicts that challenges to women who
who study them that it has been dubbed the “hair, hem-
seek political office may be amplified by the quantity, the
lines, and husbands” problem or the “lipstick watch”
tone, and the issue focus of news coverage. A basic hurdle
(Heith 2003).
historically faced by female candidates has been gaining
Bystrom’s (2010) recent assessment finds that the vol-
equal news exposure to male candidates (Falk 2008).
ume and tone of news about men and women candidates
Kahn (1996), for example, finds that across a number of
seem to be getting more equitable. Yet, she finds, impor-
races for the Senate, contests that included a female can-
tant differences remain. As recently as 2002 and 2004,
didate received less coverage than all-male contests—a
female candidates’ backgrounds and traits garnered much
difference not attributable to the size of the state or the
more coverage than those of male candidates, while
competitiveness of the race. Kahn (1996, 46) speculates
females were linked less often to salient policy issues. We
that journalists typically devote less attention to female
offer the following as our first hypothesis:
candidates because they see female candidacies as less
politically viable; her analysis of news coverage shows
that female Senate candidates are typically portrayed as
Hypothesis 1 (H1): News stories about races with
less likely to win. Indeed, presidential candidate Hillary
female candidates will be more likely to focus on
Clinton’s predecessors were dogged by the media’s
candidate traits (relative to issue and horse race
emphasis on the “novelty” of their campaigns (Falk 2008;
coverage) than races with only male candidates.
Heldman, Carroll, and Olson 2005). This quantitative
disadvantage may no longer hold, however, at least for
Gender and Office Congruency
well-known female candidates or female incumbents.
Lawrence and Rose (2009), for example, find that Hillary
In a recent study of the relationship between electoral
Clinton did not suffer from a deficit of coverage vis-à-vis
outcomes for female candidates and the press coverage
her opponents in the 2008 presidential primary.
they receive, Fowler and Lawless (2009, 519) note the
Qualitative differences may nevertheless persist, in
“theoretical and empirical challenges created by the inter-
particular, an overemphasis (relative to their male coun-
action of gender, media, context, and electoral institu-
terparts) on female candidates’ personal traits, and an
tions,” and cite an “emerging consensus” among scholars
underemphasis on their issue positions. Kahn (1996, 50–
that “greater focus on the political context is likely to pro-
51), for example, finds significantly more paragraphs per
duce bigger scholarly payoffs than is continued attention
day in newspaper coverage of Senate races about male
to observable differences between male and female can-
candidates’ issue positions than those of female candi-
didates.” Among the contextual characteristics they deem
dates. Yet, Falk (2008, 119) finds on average 16 percent
neglected in prior studies are the level and type of office
of paragraphs focused on substantive policy issues in
women seek.
conjunction with women candidates, versus twice as
Extant research is fraught with puzzles about whether
many (27%) for male candidates.
certain offices are easier for women to obtain. From one
Similarly, a study of media coverage of Elizabeth
perspective, governorships should be comparably more
Dole’s short-lived presidential campaign found that while
attainable for women because the policy arenas associ-
she received more coverage than some of her opponents
ated with state executive...