This study asks whether electoral discrimination against minority candidates reflects negative stereotypes about those candidates or positive stereotypes about majority candidates — in other words, whether in-group favoritism explains electoral bias. Using an original moderation-of-process survey experiment in Italy, the author examines electoral responses to immigrant-origin candidates and the role stereotypes play in shaping those responses. The paper's central contribution is to shift attention from solely negative stereotyping of minorities to the possibility that positive evaluations of majority candidates produce electoral advantages for them.
Original moderation-of-process survey experiment
Focus on immigrant-origin candidates
Evidence of in-group favoritism among right-wing citizens
Data and methods
The analysis is based on an original moderation-of-process survey experiment carried out in Italy. The abstract identifies the study design as a survey experiment and situates the population as Italian voters; it emphasizes measurement of electoral discrimination and respondents' stereotype attributions toward candidates with a migration background.
Main findings
According to the abstract, the study finds electoral discrimination pertaining to immigrant-origin candidates, concentrated among right-wing citizens. It reports that stereotypes have little mediating effect on discrimination against immigrant-origin candidates; instead, stereotypes primarily operate as positive biases benefiting majority candidates. The author notes large segments of the Italian electorate hold distinctively positive stereotypes of majority candidates without also endorsing negative stereotypes of immigrant-origin candidates.
- Discrimination observed is concentrated among right-wing respondents.
- Stereotypes appear to function more as positive evaluations of majority candidates than as negative evaluations of minority candidates.
