Money Talks: Race and Gender in Public Opinion on Women's Campaign Financing

• In Event: Congressional Fundraising: Tactics and Consequences

Abstract

Despite record numbers of women, particularly women of color, running for and winning elected office, women compose less than 30% of the United States Congress. Scholarship and interviews with female candidates consistently find the campaign trail to be an inhospitable place for women and identify various institutional barriers that may suppress gains in women’s representation. One salient obstacle includes campaign fundraising and financing; women candidates have consistently reported being barred from access to male-dominated party donor networks and have cited a need to create their financial support networks. This paper investigates if the source and amount of campaign contributions signals (non)conformity to race-gendered stereotypes that may harm public support for and evaluations of a female candidate and the implications this may have for women’s campaign strategy. Specifically, are women evaluated less favorably by the public for soliciting and receiving campaign funds from “corrupt” sources due to perceived (non)conformity to stereotypical expected behavior? Negative candidate evaluations and a decreased likelihood of casting a vote for a female candidate with a specific campaign finance profile may manifest as a barrier to elected office. In this paper, I use the Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections, which contains both candidate and donor information, to ascertain the types of individuals and organizations who financially support women candidates, how this varies by candidate race and gender, and how much money these actors contribute. I then test how voters evaluate candidates through a survey experiment that manipulates candidate characteristics such as race and gender as well as campaign characteristics regarding campaign finance, including source and contribution amount, to assess whether respondents are less supportive of women who solicit contributions from sources perceived to be corrupt and/or receive primarily large-dollar contributions compared to their male counterparts. Identifying potential barriers to political office, as well as possible strategies that are successful for women candidates, is critical for scholars, activists, and citizens alike to strengthen the integrity of government through equal access to political decision-making.

Author

• Samantha Koprowski, Rutgers University, New Brunswick