Policy and Personal Valence: Party Leaders and Gendered Electoral Environments

This paper investigates the relationship between the use of valence in elections and the gender of political party leaders. Using the Comparative Campaign Dynamics Project data (Debus, Somer-Topcu, and Tavits 2018), I explore valence statements used by parties in elections, both personal and policy related, to ask if, and when, parties with woman leaders are more likely to use, and be targets of, strategic valence statements. Given previous research, I argue that the use of valence in electoral campaigns will be gendered in nature, with women party leaders more likely to experience valence attacks in campaigns but less likely to use valence in the same environment. I find there are many unexpected differences in the use of valence in campaigns that are associated with the gender of the party leaders. Specifically, parties with women party leaders are less likely to use positive or neutral valence statements about themselves than parties led by men. In addition, parties led by women are also less likely to use valence statements against competitor parties and, surprisingly, that competitors are much less likely to use valence statements against parties with women leaders. The research highlights the gendered nature of campaign strategies that parties use with respect to valence and suggests future research on the consequences of the presence or absence of valence in campaigns for women.