Blah, blah, blah

A recent study from the University of Wisconsin hoped to answer this timely question as Clinton campaigns for the presidency, “Are women voters more likely to vote for female candidates?”
Answer: Not just because they’re women. Obviously.

Women generally voted based on information about the candidates and their positions on important issues: “Evidence suggests women voters are often more likely to support women candidates than are men but that this support is not automatic and is often based on additional considerations beyond candidate sex.”

The relationship was significant but was mediated by many other factors. And in fact, women were no more influenced by sex identity than men were. [and what about people who would not fit into those categories?]

Men also had a significant affinity for voting for men candidates. So there is unlikely to be any electoral advantage.

“While women support female candidates, they are evaluated in the same way that all candidates are evaluated, through the lens of personal and political considerations that take many forms,” concludes the author in the article. “Sometimes this leads to situations in which women are more likely to support female candidates than are men, but even in these situations, candidate sex may be only one of several important considerations.”