Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-6-2026

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Lewis Luartz

Abstract

This study examines whether gender influences voters' decisions to support candidates based on the political party of the senatorial candidate in the U.S. Senate elections. While research suggests that gendered stereotypes and perceived issues on ability create a clear gender gap in voting behaviors, this research argues that in high-information national elections, these identify factors come second to party identification and economic outlook. The main goal of this research is to determine whether the gender of the voter truly impacts whether they vote for a candidate based on political party, or whether their decision is rooted more on identity based morals. To test this argument, I use the 2024 American National Election Studies (ANES) and conduct an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis to examine the relationship between the gender of the voter and the political party that the candidate identifies with. The findings reveal that while a gender gap initially appears, it is largely party identification and economic outlook with party loyalty and negative perceptions of the economy that serve as the primary predictors of voter choice while education and congressional approval have no statistical significance.

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2026 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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