PhD Seminar

Speaker: Luyang Chen

Title: Inclusive Laws and Voting Behavior: Evidence from the Law of Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S.

Format: Hybrid

Abstract: The direct effect of inclusive laws on their target community is well documented. However, these usually hard-fought laws may also impact society at large if they affect voting behavior. This paper exploits the variation in the timing of Same-Sex Marriage (SSM) legalization across states in the United States to study its effects on the vote share for Democrats. The results reveal that voluntary SSM adoptions increased the share of votes going to Democrats by 2.5 percentage points in the next presidential election, primarily driven by counties previously dominated by the Republican party. I find support for an ``external political efficacy'' channel, whereby SSM adoption increases the perceived responsiveness of Democrats to their constituents' needs. However, these voting effects cannot be attributed to increased voter turnout among Democratic adherents, increased political donations to Democratic candidates, or changes in attitudes towards sexual minorities. In contrast, when SSM is imposed on the state by Supreme Court Ruling instead of won through political campaigning, SSM does not affect the perceived responsiveness of politicians or voting behavior, but it has a strong backlash effect on attitudes toward sexual minorities. My findings show that inclusive laws can have impacts beyond the target community through political change and provide new insights into mechanisms linking inclusive laws with subsequent voting behavior.

Organisers: Derrick, Dipima