Henning Finseraas (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Work-in-Progress seminars

What Drives Voter Bias Against Muslim Politicians? An Experimental Examination

Abstract: The social and political integration of Muslims is among the most contested issues in Europe, and Muslim candidates running for office will have to overcome many hurdles to get elected. In this paper, we describe how Muslim politicians perform in Norwegian local elections and experimentally explore the extent and nature of anti-Muslim biases among voters. We study what inferences voters make about Muslim candidates, and how the anti-Muslim bias varies depending on what type of information they get about the candidates. Our results show that information on candidate positions on minority rights issues decreases the anti-Muslim bias the most, by about 50 percent, but significant bias still remains. In contrast, information on politically relevant candidate traits without policy content is less effective in reducing the anti-Muslim bias. Our findings inform parties about what information they should provide during campaigns to reduce anti-Muslim bias against their candidates.