Gender, Sexism, and Contempt in Candidate Evaluation

Several recent studies have shown that the emotion of contempt, which is often linked to negative appraisals of competence and integrity, is the most important negative emotion in some electoral contests. Furthermore, gender-based stereotypes and prejudice have been shown to cause voters to evaluate female candidates in ways that seem contemptuous, i.e. as inferior and having undesirable traits. In this study, we analyze how sexism and gender-based prejudices may influence voters' emotions (especially their levels of contempt) in response to female political candidates in general and to those who violate gender norms. We find strong differences in emotional responses between sexist and nonsexist voters.