Left, Right and Gendered? The effects of Politicians’ Self-Representation on Ideological Position Stereotypes

The persistent underrepresentation of women in politics, linked to the prevalence of political gender stereotypes, challenges the foundations of representative democracy. Political communication may play a crucial role in sustaining gendered perceptions of candidates, particularly through ideological position stereotypes, i.e. assumptions about where women and men politicians are to be situated on the left-right spectrum. Inaccurate estimations of the ideological positioning of politicians can lead to misaligned voting choices and the reinforcement of underlying biases. Despite their potential influence, ideological stereotypes have received comparatively less attention to other forms of stereotypes. This study advances theory by investigating how politicians’ (self-)representation shapes ideological position stereotypes in the Flemish context. We test this in a pre-registered 2x2x2 mixed-design survey experiment (N = 3,532), where participants evaluated AI-generated social media timelines of fictional politicians whose images conveyed either communal or agentic traits across different policy issues. Overall, this study refines our understanding of when and under which conditions ideological position stereotypes are activated through political communication, offering new insights into the interplay between gender, ideology, and candidate evaluation.