The Effects of Candidate Sex on Voters’ Choice : A Conjoint Experiment with College Students in South Korea (2022.03)
- Author : Joonmo Kang and Woo Chang Kang
- Publication : Korean Political Science Review
- Publisher : The Korean Political Science Association
- Volume : 56(1)
- Date : March, 2022
Abstract: How does the candidate’s sex affect voters’ choice? Previous studies in South Korea have shown that the candidate’s sex does not affect voters’ choice. However, the analysis of the observational data such as aggregated election outcomes or survey data is limited in examining the causal effect of a candidate’s sex on voters’ choice. The effect of candidate sex may be offset from each other when voters engage in the cosex voting, where male voters vote for male candidates and female voters vote for female candidates. The survey data analysis, on the other hand, suffers from the selection issue given that only a small number of qualified female candidates run for elections. In this sense, this study examines the causal effect of the candidate’s sex on voters’ choices through a conjoint experiment. The results suggest that cosex voting occurs among college students, which continued even after reflecting on the effects of political parties.