Which Are
The Ties That Bind?

Individual Preferences for Intersectional
and Substantive Representation

Patrick Kraft

CSIC

Kathy Dolan

UWM

2025-06-10

Who Feels Represented — and Why?

Dyadic

Collective

Substantive

Theory & Literature Review I

Theory & Literature Review II

  • Gap in the literature: Most prior studies only examine representation of specific identity categories in isolation (i.e., gender or race) and/or focus on a specific type of representation (i.e., either dyadic, collective, or substantive representation).

\(\Rightarrow\) We still know relatively little about how overlapping identities matter for representation on different levels.

Research Questions

  • RQ1: Do different social groups (in terms of race or gender) have diverging preferences for descriptive representation (dyadic or collective) vs. policy representation?
  • RQ2: How important is intersectional representation (i.e., representation in terms of both race and gender) on the dyadic level and the collective level?
  • RQ3: How do the types of issues impact the relative importance of policy representation?

Study Overview

  • 2022 Cooperative Election Study: a 50,000+ person national stratified sample survey administered by YouGov.
  • Pre-election and post-election wave
    (2022 midterm elections)
  • Group Content:
    Subset of 1000 respondents participating in
    preregistered survey experiment

Find Your Perfect District

We are interested in matching people to legislative districts that best represent their interests. First, we will ask you for your opinion on various political issues that are currently in the news. We will then pair you with various lawmakers from different districts whose issue positions closely match your own preferences. Afterwards, we are going to ask you about your attitudes about the lawmaker and the legislature as a whole.

[issues] In order to match you with legislative districts, please state how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

  • Additional tariffs on goods imported from China are an effective strategy to reduce the trade deficit.
  • Maintaining a strong military is one of the most important things our country can do.
  • The United States should ease sanctions against Iran and initiate negotiations for both countries to re-join the Iran Nuclear Accord.
  • Support programs for veterans (e.g., for housing, health care) should be increased.
  • People should only be allowed to purchase firearms after they cleared a background check.
  • Our current laws to protect women against domestic violence are sufficient and do not need to be expanded.
  • Women and men who do the same jobs and have the same qualifications should should be paid equally.
  • Employers should not be required to offer parents paid family leave when they have a child or need to care for a sick child.
  • Women should have the right to have an abortion before fetal viability (within the first 24 weeks).
  • Employment policies should do more to protect people from sexual harassment in the workplace.
  • People who are convicted of one or more serious drug offenses should be subject to mandatory minimum sentences starting at 10 years in prison.
  • Confederate statues are part of history and should remain present in public spaces in this country.
  • Some funding from police departments should be cut and shifted to social services instead.
  • Because of past discrimination, Blacks should be given preference in hiring and promotion.
  • There should be a federal ban on the use of chokeholds by police departments.

A (Visual) Cojoint on Representation

Scenario A

Scenario B

Outcome Measures

[choice] If you had to choose to live in one of the districts displayed above, which one would you choose?

  1. Scenario A
  2. Scenario B

[represented] Imagine you lived in the districts displayed above. Based on the information provided about each lawmaker and state legislature, how represented would you feel in each respective district?

  • Scenario A: (SLIDER 0 - 100)
  • Scenario B: (SLIDER 0 - 100)

RQ1: Hypotheses

Do different social groups (in terms of race or gender) have diverging preferences for descriptive representation (dyadic or collective) vs. policy representation?

  • H1a: Underrepresented groups (women, Black people)
    \(\rightarrow\) dyadic > collective > policy.
  • H1b: Overrepresented groups (men, white people)
    \(\rightarrow\) policy > collective > dyadic.

RQ1: Results

RQ1: Results

RQ1: Results

RQ2: Hypotheses

How important is intersectional representation
(i.e., representation in terms of both race and gender)
on the dyadic level and the collective level?

  • H2a: One underrepresented identity
    (white women, Black men)
    \(\rightarrow\) preferences for general diversity in representation
  • H2b: Multiple underrepresented identities
    (Black women)
    \(\rightarrow\) preferences for intersectional representation

RQ2: Results

RQ2: Results

RQ3: Hypotheses

How do the types of issues impact the relative importance of policy representation?

  • H3a: Focusing on relevant issues (race, gender)
    increases the impact of policy representation among
    underrepresented groups (women, Black people)
  • H3b: Focusing on relevant issues (race, gender)
    decreases the impact of policy representation among
    overrepresented groups (men, white people)

RQ3: Results

RQ3: Results

RQ3: Results

Preliminary Conclusions

  • Overrepresented groups are more responsive to policy overlap, underrepresented groups are more responsive to descriptive representation.1
  • Intersectional representation is complex: (white) women show preferences for general diversity, while (Black) men focus on their own ingroup.2 No evidence that Black women strictly prefer intersectional representation.
  • The types of issues impact the relative importance of policy representation among underrepresented groups.

Replication with Observational Data

Replication with Observational Data

Replication with Observational Data

Next Steps

  • Observational analysis of dyadic representation on the national level in Congress (c.f., English et al. 2019).
  • Examine interactions between issue overlap and descriptive representation. How can representatives use policy positions to appeal to out-group constituents?
  • Condition on policy predisposition and pre-treatment attitudes. Do men reward policy overlap on gender issues while holding conservative views?

Appendix

Baseline: Continuous Evaluation

Intersectional: Continuous Evaluation

Policy: Continuous Evaluation

Policy & Intersectional: Discrete

Policy & Intersectional: Continuous

Observational: Intersectional Identity

References

Atkeson, Lonna Rae, and Nancy Carrillo. 2007. “More Is Better: The Influence of Collective Female Descriptive Representation on External Efficacy.” Politics & Gender 3(1):79–101.
Barreto, Matt A., Gary M. Segura, and Nathan D. Woods. 2004. “The Mobilizing Effect of Majority–Minority Districts on Latino Turnout.” American Political Science Review 98(1):65–75.
Broockman, David E. 2014. “Do Female Politicians Empower Women to Vote or Run for Office? A Regression Discontinuity Approach.” Electoral Studies 34:190–204.
Costa, Mia, and Brian F. Schaffner. 2018. “How Gender Conditions the Way Citizens Evaluate and Engage with Their Representatives.” Political Research Quarterly 71(1):46–58.
English, Ashley, Kathryn Pearson, and Dara Z. Strolovitch. 2019. “Who Represents Me? Race, Gender, Partisan Congruence, and Representational Alternatives in a Polarized America.” Political Research Quarterly 72(4):785–804.
Lucas, Jennifer C., and Heather Silber Mohamed. 2021. “Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and the Racialization of Attitudes Toward Descriptive Representation.” American Politics Research 49(5):517–33.
Philpot, Tasha S., and Hanes Walton Jr. 2007. “One of Our Own: Black Female Candidates and the Voters Who Support Them.” American Journal of Political Science 51(1):49–62.
West, Emily A. 2017. “Descriptive Representation and Political Efficacy: Evidence from Obama and Clinton.” The Journal of Politics 79(1):351–55.

Footnotes

  1. race: dyadic | gender: collective

  2. Mostly in terms of collective representation