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Year:: 2020
Contributor:: Kaplan, Cayla (creator); Schiller, Wendy (thesis advisor); Arenberg, Richard (reader); Brown University. Political Science (sponsor)
Genre:: theses
Subject:: Women, White; Voting research; Political campaigns; Communication in politics; Exit polling (Elections)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26300/navz-8659

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Abstract:: While subgroups of the electorate do not always vote monolithically, there is commonly an air of cohesion surrounding vote choices due to self-segregation, exposure, or shared personal experiences. White women, on the other hand, do not follow this generally cohesive electoral trend and act as swing voters within the electorate. Due to their conflicting identity of ‘superior’ race and ‘inferior’ gender, ambivalent sexism, and high party defection rates, white women act as the most volatile and moveable group of voters. In fact, after examining the voting trends of white women from the past three open-seat presidential elections, this thesis displays that their vote choice can be more tightly tied to other demographic factors besides gender and race, such as age, income, party affiliation, political ideology, geographical region, urbanicity, education level, religion, and marriage status. It is evident that Democrats should push get out the vote efforts towards their more secured voters — unmarried, educated, urban white women — and Republicans should do the same towards rural, low-educated, Southern white women; however, where does a white, rural, college-educated woman stand on this political spectrum? While white women as a whole are swing voters, these specific white women, individuals with combinations of Republican and Democratic characteristics, are especially influenceable and winnable. After examining three toss-up Congressional races in the 2018 midterm elections, this thesis finds that the most successful campaigns to garner white women’s support are values-based, moderate, and focused on localized issues. The implications of these findings and this argument include the potential to better understand the dispersed political leanings of white women, and subsequently target messaging campaigns to subgroups of this demographic bloc.
Notes:: Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2020; Concentration: Political Science

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Rights: In Copyright
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Citation

Kaplan, Cayla, "Capturing the White Women Vote: An Analysis of Characteristic Determinants and Political Messaging" (2020). Political Science Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.26300/navz-8659

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Political Science Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations for the Political Science department.
...

Capturing the White Women Vote: An Analysis of Characteristic Determinants and Political Messaging