There is a stereotype of libertarians being young, college educated, white men and that the Libertarian Party lacks appeal among women and individuals of color. There is a great deal of research investigating gender differences in public opinion on a number of issues including the provision of government resources and government spending (Barnes and Cassese; Howell and Day). Nevertheless, there is no work specifically investigating why women and nonwhites do not find libertarianism appealing. We test several hypotheses using 2016 American National Election Study data and 2013 PRRI data. We find a sizeable and significant gender gap and race gap in support for libertarian principles. We investigate several explanations for these gaps finding moderate support for self-interest, racial attitudes, and egalitarianism as reasons for women and African Americans being less supportive of Libertarian Principles. We believe that the modest success of and media attention garnered by Ron Paul and Rand Paul in recent years along with the success of the Libertarian Party presidential ticket in 2016 highlights the need to understand who is drawn to libertarianism and why.11 Data are publicly available for replication purposes through the ANES website (https://electionstudies.org/data-center/2016-time-series-study/) and the PRRI website (https://www.prri.org/research/2013-american-values-survey/). Information regarding sample sizes and sampling methods can also be found at these websites along with codebooks and questionnaires. The authors did not preregister this study.


中文翻译：

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理解自由主义的吸引力：支持自由主义原则的性别和种族差异

有一种刻板印象，认为自由主义者是年轻、受过大学教育的白人男性，而且自由党在女性和有色人种中缺乏吸引力。有大量研究调查公众舆论中的性别差异，包括政府资源和政府支出的提供（巴恩斯和卡塞斯；豪厄尔和戴）。然而，没有任何工作专门调查女性和非白人为什么不认为自由至上主义具有吸引力。我们使用 2016 年美国国家选举研究数据和 2013 年 PRRI 数据检验了几个假设。我们发现在支持自由主义原则方面存在巨大且显着的性别差距和种族差距。我们调查了对这些差距的几种解释，发现对自身利益、种族态度、和平等主义作为女性和非裔美国人不太支持自由主义原则的原因。我们认为，Ron Paul 和 Rand Paul 近年来取得的适度成功和媒体关注，以及 2016 年自由党总统票的成功，凸显了了解谁被自由主义吸引以及为什么被吸引的必要性。 11数据可通过 ANES 网站 (https://electionstudies.org/data-center/2016-time-series-study/) 和 PRRI 网站 (https://www.prri.org/research /2013-美国价值观调查/）。在这些网站上还可以找到有关样本量和抽样方法的信息以及密码本和问卷。作者没有预先注册这项研究。