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politics17h ago
Many more US voters support gay candidates, but only if they look and act ‘straight,’ study finds
- Recent Northwestern study finds Americans more accepting of gay candidates, but acceptance is conditional by party and appearance.
- Republican voters still penalize candidates for being gay and for slightly gender nonconforming.
- Democratic and young voters showed no overall penalty for being gay, with some views shifting toward appearance.
- The study is the first to test both between-group and within-group discrimination in electability.
- Gender presentation affects electability for both gay and straight men according to the findings.
- The research used two surveys with nearly 2,600 participants to test candidate profiles.
- Voters may penalize visible markers of minority identity even among those who oppose anti-gay bias overall.
- The study’s author notes bias targets visible cues like lisp, accents, or gendered presentation.
- The findings highlight implications for Pride Month and electability debates.
- Overall, the research shows bias persists even as acceptance rises, with new limits on heteronormativity.
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