New findings from the 2020 presidential election show that women voters are far from a political monolith, with attitudes toward race and gender strongly linked to their choices at the ballot box. The research shows that the link between racial attitudes and support for Donald Trump was particularly strong among white women, while hostile sexism appeared to play a bigger role among Latina and Asian American voters. These findings, published in Politics & Gender, highlight the diverse and complex factors driving political preferences among women of different racial backgrounds.
The researchers, Chaerim Kim and Jane Junn, were motivated by the observation that most studies on voting behavior often group women together, glossing over how race can shape political preferences within groups of women. They aimed to address what they term “whitewashing”—the tendency to treat women as a homogeneous group despite racial differences that could lead to distinct voting patterns. The 2020 election was a particularly significant case study, given Trump’s polarizing views and rhetoric on both gender and racial issues.
Utilizing data from the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Survey (CMPS), the researchers analyzed responses from a diverse group of 8,936 women voters, including Black, Asian American, Latina, and white women. This dataset was particularly useful as it includes large samples of racial and ethnic minorities, allowing the researchers to examine differences among subgroups of women without assuming uniformity within the female electorate.
To gauge how racial and gender attitudes shaped voting behavior, the researchers employed two main scales: the hostile sexism scale and the racial resentment scale. The hostile sexism scale measures antagonistic views toward women (e.g., “Women seek to gain power by getting control over men”). The racial resentment scale, on the other hand, assesses prejudicial attitudes toward racial minority groups, especially focusing on African Americans (e.g., “It is really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if Blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites”).
The findings showed significant variation in how racial and gender attitudes influenced voting preferences among the groups of women surveyed, differentiated by race. For white women, racial resentment was a strong predictor of support for Trump. White women who scored higher on the racial resentment scale were much more likely to vote for the Republican candidate, suggesting that racial attitudes were a central factor in their voting decisions.
For Latina voters, racial resentment was associated with a moderate increase in Trump support, suggesting that for some in this group, negative views about other racial groups may have influenced their alignment with conservative positions. Similarly, a subset of Asian American women with higher racial resentment scores also showed slightly greater likelihood of supporting Trump, though this effect was less pronounced than among white women.
In contrast, Black women showed much lower levels of racial resentment, which corresponded with their strong support for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The findings imply that Black women, whose political choices are often shaped by experiences of racial inequality, were more unified in their voting patterns and less influenced by racial resentment in their decisions.
The study also found that hostile sexism played a unique role among Latina and Asian American women, who were more likely to support Trump if they scored high on the hostile sexism scale. This suggests that attitudes toward traditional gender roles influenced voting behavior within these groups.
These findings indicate that Latina and Asian American women’s voting choices may have been shaped by distinct social expectations related to gender, which differed from the factors that influenced Black women voters. For Black women, racial identity appeared to be a more cohesive and influential factor in voting decisions, while Latina and Asian American women’s choices were influenced by a mix of racial and gender attitudes.
Interestingly, the effect of hostile sexism on voting choice was less pronounced among both Black women and white women. While racial resentment significantly correlated with Trump support among white women, hostile sexism did not have the same strong effect. This difference implies that race, more than gender, influenced white women’s voting decisions, with many prioritizing racial attitudes over gender-based beliefs.
The researchers suggest this could be due to the relative racial privilege white women experience, which allows them more leeway to focus on race-based concerns over gender-related ones. Essentially, as “second in sex to men” but “first in race to minorities,” white women may experience and express a different set of political priorities compared to women of color, who are more frequently subjected to intersecting forms of racial and gender discrimination.
As with all research, there are some limitations. One limitation is its reliance on self-reported data, which can be influenced by social desirability or recall bias. The study also focused on a single election year, and factors like Trump’s unique public image might have shaped voter behavior in ways that may not represent long-term voting patterns.
Future research could examine multiple election cycles to see if these patterns remain consistent over time. Another possible direction for further study could involve exploring other dimensions of identity, such as religion or immigration status, which might also shape how different groups of women approach political decision-making.
The study, “Whitewashing Women Voters: Intersectionality and Partisan Vote Choice in the 2020 US Presidential Election,” was published September 20, 2024.