ABSTRACT
One of the major conclusions of the analysis of voter response to women candidates conducted is that candidate sex, and the gendered considerations it can raise, has a more complex and nuanced impact on voters than we may have imagined. In looking at how voters evaluated and chose (or failed to choose) women candidates for Congress during a ten-year period, the primary conclusion that can be drawn is that the presence of women candidates, in most cases, does not influence the public in one particular direction. With regard to the ways that people evaluate women candidates, it is clear that people assess Democratic and Republican women differently. Voting for a woman is perhaps the ultimate evaluation a voter can make. One of the most consistent findings of the analysis conducted for this project is that there are no consistent influences on people's decisions to choose or reject women candidates.
