Electoral Incentives Don't Deter Ethnocentric Responsiveness in Danish Politics

Ethnic minority voters often face biased service from politicians. This study tests whether electoral incentives or candidate selection reduces such bias.

🔷 Data & Methods: A field experiment with 2,395 Danish voters tested responsiveness across varied ethnic and gender demographics.

We hypothesized that electoral pressures would crowd out potential biases among legislators. We also explored if minority constituents use partisan affiliation or policy stances as heuristics.

👉 Key Findings:

• No evidence that incentives reduce ethnocentric bias;
• Minority voters successfully used parties' and candidates' immigration positions to identify responsive politicians.

🔍 Why It Matters: This research underscores the persistent challenge of mitigating discriminatory behavior in political representation, even under electoral pressures.