Class War in the Voting Booth
Bias Against High‐Income Congressional Candidates
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6300770 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John D Griffin (0000-0001-8331-7561, University of Colorado Boulder), Brian Newman (0000-0002-0410-2210, Pepperdine University), Patrick Buhr (US House of Representatives) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 131-145 |
| Publication date | 2020-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/lsq.12253 |
| OpenAlex | W2971958501 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 26 |
Do Americans care how much money congressional candidates earn? We conducted three experiments to examine how candidates' incomes affect voters' perceptions of the candidates' traits and ultimately their vote intention. Subjects evaluated otherwise identical candidates with annual incomes randomly varying between $75,000, $3 million, and a candidate with no income information provided. Results from the three experiments are remarkably similar. Subjects viewed the $3 million earner as significantly more intelligent than the candidate with no income information provided, but this benefit of high income was overshadowed by significant biases against the $3 million candidate. Subjects consistently viewed the $3 million earner as less honest, less caring, and less representative of them than the other candidates. Ultimately, subjects were less likely to say they would vote for the $3 million candidate. These findings demonstrate that the campaign advantages that high‐income candidates enjoy are somewhat offset by voters' initial bias against them
Affect (linguistics · Demographic economics · Economics · Offset (computer science · Perception · Political science · Voting · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
Unequal Democracies
Like ’Em Rich? Public Perceptions and Opinions of Politicians’ Wealth
The man who has money is king”
Are There Social Class Gaps in Nascent Political Ambition? Survey Evidence from the Americas
Are Workers Effective Lawmakers
Primary Barriers to Working Class Representation
Millionaire Justices and Attitudes Towards the Supreme Court
The Economic Backgrounds of Politicians
Follow the Leader?
White-Collar Government
Why We (Usually) Don't Have to Worry About Multiple Comparisons
The Reasoning Voter
The Generalizability of Survey Experiments
Rich Man, Poor Man, Politician Man
Poor but Warm, Rich but Cold (and Competent)
Voting Cues in Low-Information Elections
Does the Numerical Underrepresentation of the Working Class in Congress Matter
The “Mill Worker’s Son” Heuristic
Bringing the Candidate into Models of Candidate Evaluation
The Simplest Shortcut of All
The Role of Candidate Traits in Campaigns
Candidate Occupations and Voter Information Shortcuts
Integrity and Presidential Approval, 1980-2000
Religious Stereotyping and Voter Support for Evangelical Candidates
Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis
One of Our Own
A model of (often mixed) stereotype content
Legislator Wealth and the Effort to Repeal the Estate Tax
How voters assess elite-educated politicians
Do citizens make inferences from political candidate characteristics when aiming for substantive representation
Barack Obama and the nationalization of electoral politics in 2012
Do Voters Dislike Working-Class Candidates? Voter Biases and the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |