Personal Experience and Voter Perceptions of Candidates with Disabilities

• In Event: Health and Political Behavior

Abstract

Despite important advances in disability rights over the past decades, people with disabilities are still stigmatised in our societies. Research in social psychology and sociology shows that they tend to be perceived as weak, dependent, and less capable. Voters might apply similar stereotypes to election candidates with disabilities, as they often have only limited information about the political views and experience of candidates. Previous research on women and ethnic minority candidates demonstrates that voters do indeed use such characteristics as heuristics when evaluating candidates and making the vote choice. Yet, both the degree to which voters apply stereotypes about people with disabilities and the content of these stereotypes is likely to be contingent on their own experience with disability. This study argues that individuals who have a disability themselves (1) are less likely to apply common stereotypes, (2) hold more positive images, and (3) prefer a representative with a disability over one without. Hypotheses 1 and 2 should also apply to voters who are in close contact with people with disabilities. The effects are likely to be amplified when candidates and voters, or their contacts, share the same disability type. The hypotheses are tested through an original survey experiment with a conjoint design conducted among a representatives sample of the public in the UK. The study provides novel insights into the role of both voter and candidate disability in elections and political representation, adding to a literature that has recently been expanding to encompass a greater range of candidate characteristics. It also has the potential to help us understand the lower political engagement and trust of people with disabilities, which might be partly caused by their descriptive underrepresentation among political power-holders.

Author

• Stefanie Reher, University of Strathclyde