Shared Identities: The Intersection of Race and Gender and Support for Political Candidates
Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series
Professor Sarah Allen Gershon
Associate Professor of Political
Science at Georgia State University
The SPGS Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series hosts at least one speaker per year. The series serves a variety of goals, including honoring outstanding alumni for their accomplishments, raising the visibility of SPGS to both internal and external audiences, educating undergraduate and graduate students about career possibilities associated with our degrees, and learning from honorees about ways we might improve our degree programs. Learn more and see past recipients.
As the electorate and pool of candidates at all levels of office continues to diversify, scholars are increasingly exploring the role of intersecting identities (both of voters and candidates) in shaping electoral behavior. Typically, these studies focus on either the singular identity of the voters or that of the candidate. We advance this research by exploring the relationship between minority voters’ gender identity and their support for candidates with different gender and racial identities. Our study employs data from the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, collected immediately after the 2016 election. Using this timely dataset, we examine whether shared racial and gender identity enhances African-American and Latino support for different political candidates, as well as whether perceived shared minority status enhances support for non-white candidates generally in these populations. We conclude by discussing the implications of our research for the changing face of American political candidates and voters.
Bio:
Sarah Allen Gershon is an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on the incorporation of traditionally underrepresented groups (including women, racial and ethnic minorities) into the American political system. Gershon’s research has been published in Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, Politics, Groups and Identities, Journal of Politics, DuBois Review, Journal of Women, Politics and Policy and several other journals. Gershon co-edited (with Nadia Brown) "Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics" (Routledge Press 2016). Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the C-SPAN Educational Foundation. In 2017, Gershon received the Jelen Award for Best Article published in Politics & Religion (with Adrian D. Pantoja and J. Benjamin Taylor). She was also named the Outstanding Graduate Director for the College of Arts and Sciences at GSU in 2017.