SOCIAL POLITICS, cilt.30, sa.1, ss.290-315, 2023 (SSCI)
Although several studies have examined the relationship between gender and support for right-wing populist parties, much of the scholarly attention has focused on explaining the gender gap in populist-party support. This article shifts the focus to gender stereotypes, which we argue are closely related to the macho-type policy style of populist-political parties. Utilizing an original survey conducted in Turkey, we examined how gender-based personality traits and policy stereotypes-the belief that women and men are better at handling different issue areas, and that they have different personality traits-correlate with support for the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP). We show that male and female policy stereotypes are significantly associated with both the right-wing populist AKP support and support for the secular opposition parties, albeit in opposite ways. These results suggest that support for right-wing populist parties is multidimensional and consists of gendered perceptions of competence, traits, and key socioeconomic characteristics.