The empowerment effect of visible political representation: Examining the impact of Muslim representation on political outcomes

Abstract

Previous studies have found an ‘empowerment effect’ of minority representation, but often face a difficult methodological obstacle: any observed correlation between visible political leadership by marginalized groups and political engagement of its members may be due to reverse causation or unaccounted-for confounders. We use a novel video-vignette design and conduct two pre-registered survey experiments to test if visible political leadership of Muslims affects American Muslims’ and non-Muslims’ political engagement. In both studies, Muslim and non-Muslim respondents randomized into the inclusive treatment judged the political system to be more fair and legitimate. Treated Muslim participants also showed slightly more positive attitudes towards prospective political participation and political candidacy. These findings suggest that the visible representation of underrepresented groups can have outcomes beneficial to inclusion and democracy, and that increasing the political visibility of one group does not necessarily harm the legitimacy perceived by members of another group.