“He’s a Clown, She’s a Bore”: A Think-aloud Analysis of Gendered Voter Thoughts in Response to Negative Candidate Cues

Negative information about political candidates is readily available in contemporary political communication. Past research has shown that voters respond to negative cues in complex ways; however, surprisingly little is known about how negativity resulting from visual media cues manifests in voters’ thoughts. Moreover, negativity is tightly connected to gendered expectations about what constitutes appropriate behavior for politicians. Yet existing accounts of negativity and candidate evaluation typically do not address the role of gender. Furthermore, the available empirical evidence remains inconclusive as to the extent of variation in negative voter response to women and men politicians. This paper tackles these gaps and proposes a mixed-methods think-aloud study to investigate (1) how negativity manifests in voters’ thoughts in response to negative media cues, (2) whether negative thoughts differ between women and men candidates, and (3) how negative thoughts affect vote preference for men and women candidates. Following a pre-registered procedure, the study traces the first impression formation and subsequent decision-making process of 78 participants. Results show that voters are most likely to think negatively about candidate appearance and personality traits. Though the total amount of negative thoughts is similar for both women and men candidates, the thought content both reflects—and breaks with—gender-stereotypical expectations of political leadership. This study finds an interaction negativity and gender on vote preference, indicating that women are less vulnerable to the detrimental effect of negative thoughts than men.