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information is given about them—that is, how easily accessed by the viewer. Similarly,
this study examines how prominently men and women candidates feature their
endorsements.
To get a sense of the urgency or excitement conveyed on a candidate’s website, or
what a candidate is hoping to inspire a viewer to do, websites were coded for incitements
to action—direct, explicit calls to viewers to take some action in support of the candidate.
Finally, as a rough measure of what could be called insider or outsider image, websites
were coded for the use of a traditional red, white, and blue color scheme, with some
interesting results.
Findings
Personal Information:
Members of Current Immediate Family mentioned
While no overall gender differences were apparent when the websites were coded
for mention of any members of the current family, a divergence between incumbent
women and women running as challengers or for open seats is evident. Female
challengers are slightly more likely than male challengers to make mention of their
present family—spouse and/or children, (82%/71%, respectively) (Figure 1). When seat
status is taken into consideration, women running for open seats are slightly less likely
than men (though both are very highly likely) to mention their present families—93%
and 100%, respectively. The largest difference occurs between incumbent men and
women, where incumbent male candidates made mention of their present families 86% of
Convention