Effects of politicians’ sexual orientation on perceived competence and warmth

When it becomes publicly known that a politician identifies as homosexual, this often leads to discussions about whether this has an effect on their evaluation by citizens and hence their electability. From a scientific perspective such an effect would be based on different stereotypes for homosexual and heterosexual persons. For example, lesbian women are perceived as more masculine than heterosexual women (Wright & Canetto 2009). At the same time, lesbian women are perceived as less warm but more competent than gay or bisexual men (Vaughn et al. 2017). In the political space, such stereotypes can influence evaluations. For example, stereotypes on female politicians are often incongruent with leadership traits (e.g., assertiveness), making it difficult for women in politics (Schneider & Bos 2014). However, lesbian politicians could be perceived as more assertive than heterosexual female politicians. Still, empirical findings on this topic are rare: A Canadian study was able to show that the sexual orientation of politicians had a negative effect on voting for a fictitious politician, but only if the relationship status of the politician is "single" (Everitt & Horvath 2021). However, this finding is difficult to generalize for other societies due to the high level of support for LGBTQ+ rights in Canada. The proposed paper therefore examines the effect of cues about politicians' sexual orientation on their perceived competence and warmth in Germany. In addition, the moderating roles of respondents' gender stereotypes and prejudices towards homosexual persons are investigated. For this purpose, an experimental research design (N= 828) was used in which the respondents were presented with information about a fictitious politician in form of a news article, varying the politician’s gender (female, male) and sexual orientation (gay/lesbian, heterosexual). Everitt J. & Horvath L. (2021). Public Attitudes and Private Prejudices: Assessing Voters’ Willingness to Vote for Out Lesbian and Gay Candidates. Frontiers in Political Science, 3: 662095. Schneider, M. C. & Bos, A. L. (2014). Measuring Stereotypes of Female Politician. Political Psychology, 32(2), 245-266. Vaughn, A. A., Teeters, S. A., Sadler, M. S. & Cronan, S. B. (2017). Stereotypes, Emotions, and Behaviors Toward Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexual Women, and Bisexual Men. Journal of Homosexuality, 64(13), 1890-1911. Wright, S. L. & Canetto, S. S. (2009). Stereotypes of Older Lesbians and Gay Men. Educational Gerontology, 35, 424–452.