Why Do Women Candidates Go Negative Online? Asking the Experts

• In Event: Analyzing Political Campaign Strategies across Platforms

Abstract

We have in previous studies proposed several theories to explain why women campaign differently from men online; however, our observational data (i.e., tweets) are limited in their ability to establish a causal connection between gender and online communication strategies. In this manuscript, we report results from a series of interviews conducted with social media communications staff for congressional campaigns in 2024. We ask about their strategies promoting issue positions and the use of negativity toward their opponents. Under what conditions do women candidates’ campaign managers decide to “go negative” versus male candidates’ campaign managers? To what extent do staff consider gender expectations and stereotypes when deciding what messaging to promote on the candidate’s Twitter feed? How do they perceive social media to matter over the course of the campaign?

Authors

• Heather Evans, University of Virginia's College at Wise

• Jennifer Hayes Clark, University of Houston