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“I think Canadians look like all sorts of people”: ethnicity, political leadership, and the case of Jagmeet Singh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2021

Joanie Bouchard Open the ORCID record for Joanie Bouchard [Opens in a new window]
Joanie Bouchard*
Affiliation:
Political Science, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: jbouch22@uwo.ca
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Abstract

Research into the impact of a politician's sociodemographic profile on vote choice in Westminster-style systems has been hindered by the relative sociodemographic homogeneity of party leaders. Past research has focused mainly on the evaluation of local candidates in the American context, but given that elections in plurality systems are far less candidate-oriented , the evaluation of local candidates tells us little about the prevalence of affinity or discrimination in other contexts. This article investigates the effect of political leaders' ethnicity on political behavior by looking at the case of Jagmeet Singh in Canada, the first federal party leader of color in the country's history. While the literature has shown that the gender of leaders in Canada can matter, little is known about the attitudes of Canadians toward party leaders of color specifically. We are interested in the evaluations of Singh and his party, as well as the shifts in voting intentions between elections in 2015 and 2019. We uncover affinity-based behaviors from individuals who identify as Sikh, as well as a negative reception of Singh's candidacy in Quebec.

Keywords

Canadaelectionsparty leadershippolitical representationZ19
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 2022 , pp. 316 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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