What Is the Difference Between a Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull?

Abstract

This study explores what effect different campaign information frames have on voters’ evaluations of Sarah Palin using data from an online experiment. We show that descriptions highlighting more stereotypically feminine attributes cause individuals to perceive Palin as holding more feminine traits, while those highlighting more masculine attributes lead to higher assessments of her masculine traits. Those that mix feminine and masculine attributes lead to higher assessments of Palin’s masculine traits and null effects on her feminine traits. We show that Palin benefits the most in overall evaluations by being perceived as high on both masculine and feminine traits.