Replication Data for: Not Just Women for Women: How Gendered Affinities Affect Candidate Support

Despite gains in women’s political representation, many studies continue to identify structural and attitudinal barriers that contribute to their persistent under-representation in elected office. One commonly cited explanation is a baseline reluctance among some voters to support female candidates. However, research on gender affinity suggests a more complex picture: voters often prefer candidates who resemble themselves, and especially women are more likely to support women. This identity-driven dynamic stands in contrast to a generalised bias against women and raises important questions about how gender identity, beyond binary gender, shapes voter behavior. To address these questions, we use a conjoint experiment to test whether gender affinity influences candidate preferences and how it is moderated by gender identity. Our findings reveal a consistent gender affinity effect with women respondents preferring women candidates, and men preferring men candidates. These patterns are stronger among individuals with more pronounced gender identities, i.e. hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity. Our study makes two contributions. First, by incorporating measures of gender identity, we move beyond a binary conception of gender to provide a more nuanced account of gender affinity. Second, our approach allows us to move beyond the traditional focus on affinity between women voters and women candidates to also consider how gender identity shapes political preferences among men.尽管女性在政治代表领域已取得一定进展，但诸多研究仍指出，结构性与态度性障碍仍是女性在民选公职中任职比例长期偏低的重要诱因。其中一项被广泛引用的解释是，部分选民本就存在不愿支持女性候选人的倾向。然而，针对性别亲和（gender affinity）的研究则展现出更为复杂的图景：选民往往更青睐与自身特质相似的候选人，女性选民尤其更倾向于支持女性候选人。这种由身份认同驱动的动态效应与针对女性的普遍性偏见形成鲜明对比，同时也提出了关键问题：超越二元性别范畴的性别身份，究竟如何塑造选民的投票行为。 为解答这些问题，本研究采用联合分析实验（conjoint experiment），检验性别亲和是否会影响选民对候选人的偏好，以及性别身份如何调节这一效应。研究结果显示，性别亲和效应始终存在：女性受访者更偏好女性候选人，男性受访者则更偏好男性候选人。这种偏好模式在性别身份特征更为显著的群体中表现得更为强烈，即具有过度男性化（hyper-masculinity）与过度女性化（hyper-femininity）特质的人群。 本研究有两点学术贡献。其一，通过纳入性别身份的测量维度，我们突破了性别二元论的认知框架，为性别亲和现象提供了更为细致入微的阐释。其二，我们的研究方法不仅突破了以往仅关注女性选民与女性候选人之间亲和效应的传统视角，还进一步探讨了性别身份如何塑造男性的政治偏好。