%0 Journal Article
%T The Southern Accent as a Heuristic in American Campaigns and Elections
%A Christopher A. Cooper
%A Claire Wofford
%A H. Gibbs Knotts
%A Karyn Amira
%J American Politics Research
%@ 1552-3373
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1532673X18755655
%X Are political candidates perceived differently based on the presence or absence of a southern accent? To address this question, we employ an experimental design that explores reactions to political candidates with a southern accent and a regionally neutral accent. We focus on perceptions of three general categories of candidate characteristics: candidate traits, candidate affect, and candidate issue positions. Overall, we discover that candidates with a southern accent are viewed more negatively, and they are thought to hold more conservative policy positions, than candidates with no discernible accent. Our findings suggest that the southern accent provides a heuristic that affects how voters perceive candidates
%K southern politics
%K campaigns and elections
%K political psychology
%K voice
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1532673X18755655