Gendered Reactions

Abstract

Considering the 2004 campaign’s attention to the gender gap in voting between women and men and efforts to turn out the youth vote, this study examines the reactions of 301 female and male young voters to televised political advertisements aired on behalf of the two major party presidential candidates. Specifically, the authors compare how women and men rate each candidate’s overall favorability and individual character traits as well as indicate their vote intention for George W. Bush or John Kerry. The authors find that the gender gap in vote intention is similar to, but larger than, the actual gender gap in voting in 2004, both overall and for young voters. However, assessments of candidate favorability follow the gender gap only for the Democratic candidate.