Granddaughter and voting for a female candidate

TL;DR

This study finds that grandparents with granddaughters are about 10% more likely to vote for female candidates, suggesting intergenerational influence driven by grandchildren's gender in Japan.

Contribution

It provides new evidence on how grandchildren's gender impacts grandparents' voting behavior, highlighting a specific intergenerational effect not previously documented.

Findings

Grandparents with granddaughters are 10% more likely to vote for female candidates.

Having a daughter or grandson does not influence voting behavior.

Granddaughters' influence may be driven by future societal benefits.

Abstract

This study examines the influence of grandchildren's gender on grandparents' voting behavior using independently collected individual-level data. The survey was conducted immediately after the House of Councilors election in Japan. I observed that individuals with a granddaughter were more likely to vote for female candidates by around 10 % than those without. However, having a daughter did not affect the parents' voting behavior. Furthermore, having a son or a grandson did not influence grandparents' voting behavior. This implies that grandparents voted for their granddaughter's future benefit because granddaughters may be too young vote in a male-dominated and aging society.