Role Models and Women's Political Ambition

• In Event: Does Women's Presence Matter? Symbolic and Role Model Effects

Abstract

On Election Day in 2016, with Hillary Clinton on the ballot, many women posted images of themselves on social media wearing pants suits or donning suffragette white. While Clinton did not win the election, women turned out in droves to participate in the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, in the largest single-day protest event in U.S. history. Fast-forward to 2018, and record numbers of women ran for and won political office, while in 2019 a record number of women declared their candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. This paper examines how role models like Clinton, and the women running in the 2020 presidential primary, affect women’s political ambition. We argue that the presence of women running for an office like the presidency should increase enthusiasm, especially among educated women and women on the left. This increase in enthusiasm should in turn increase political ambition. We test these arguments using two survey experiments, one with Qualtrics panelists and one with a sample from NORC, in which participants were randomly assigned to read a vignette about Clinton’s historic run for office or not. In two follow-up studies, one with Qualtrics panelists and one on the CCES, we directly manipulate feelings of enthusiasm toward women (or men) running in the 2020 presidential primary and explore effects on political ambition.

Authors

• Stephanie L. DeMora, University of California, Riverside

• Jennifer L. Merolla, University of California, Riverside

• Christian Lindke, University of California, Riverside

• Maricruz Ariana Osorio, University of California, Riverside

• Sierra Michelle Graves

• Sean David Long, University of California, Riverside