AUTHOR=Everitt Joanna , Horvath Laszlo 

TITLE=Public Attitudes and Private Prejudices: Assessing Voters’ Willingness to Vote for Out Lesbian and Gay Candidates

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Political Science

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.662095

DOI=10.3389/fpos.2021.662095

ISSN=2673-3145

ABSTRACT=Our study concerns the factors leading to the electoral success and failure of LGBTQ candidates in the context of the changing nature of prejudices. We hypothesize that more positive views towards “respectability candidates,” as captured by familial status, has replaced explicit prejudice towards out LGBTQ candidates in societies where acceptance of sexual minorities in general has grown. In a survey experiment conducted with a sample of Canadian voters, one of the first countries to legalize marriage equality, we find evidence that voters are more likely to reward lesbian and gay candidates who adopt heteronormative relationships (married with children versus single) than those who do not. In addition, exploring causal heterogeneity, we show that a range of individual-level characteristics and attitudes predict support awarded to single lesbian and gay candidates, whereas lesbian and gay candidates with families were simply more supported across the board.