Gendered Perceptions of Personality Traits, Policy Stereotypes, and Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties: Lessons from Turkey

Abstract

Abstract Although several studies have examined the relationship between gender and support for right-wing populist parties, much of the scholarly attention has focused on explaining the gender gap in populist-party support. This article shifts the focus to gender stereotypes, which we argue are closely related to the macho-type policy style of populist-political parties. Utilizing an original survey conducted in Turkey, we examined how gender-based personality traits and policy stereotypes—the belief that women and men are better at handling different issue areas, and that they have different personality traits—correlate with support for the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP). We show that male and female policy stereotypes are significantly associated with both the right-wing populist AKP support and support for the secular opposition parties, albeit in opposite ways. These results suggest that support for right-wing populist parties is multidimensional and consists of gendered perceptions of competence, traits, and key socioeconomic characteristics.