Working Class Not Less Likely To Want Office, Study Finds

📊 What This Study Asks

This article tests whether working-class citizens are less personally inclined to run for elected office—i.e., whether social class gaps exist in nascent political ambition.

🧭 How the Evidence Was Collected

Cross-national survey evidence from the Americas was analyzed:

• 10 surveys
• 13,535 respondents
• First cross-national analysis of social class gaps in nascent ambition and one of the largest studies of nascent ambition to date

Standard survey measures of personal inclination to run were used to gauge nascent ambition.

🔎 Key Findings

• Little evidence of social class differences on standard measures of nascent ambition.
• Substantial gender gaps in nascent ambition, consistent with prior research.

💡 Why It Matters

If working-class citizens do not show lower personal inclination to run, their underrepresentation in elected office likely stems from other barriers—such as institutional rules, resource constraints, gatekeeping, or recruitment practices—rather than lower nascent ambition. These results shift the focus of explanations for class-based underrepresentation away from individual motivation toward structural and contextual factors.