Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Mobilizing Effect Of Descriptive Representation? The Impact Of Representatives’ Race And Gender On Participation, Akayla Henson, Brittany Wood

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Studies on the effect of increased descriptive representation on political participation have yielded mixed results. This research explores the relationship between descriptive representation and political participation. Specifically, we are interested in understanding how the race and gender of political representatives affect electorate participation. We conduct a unique survey experiment where participants receive communication from a political representative. The treatment conditions varied based on representative race (black, white) and gender (man, woman). We hypothesized that participants who receive correspondence from a representative of the same gender and race as themselves (i.e., in-group) will be more likely to participate than a participant …