So which is most important? Stereotyping or projection? Turns out it really matters what your own views are. Flankers project their views onto politicians, whereas moderates stereotype.

The work by @amyelerman and @MeredithSadin inspired me to look into projection as well. Turns out, voters not only stereotype, they also project their views onto politicians.

Building on work by @tabouchadi I ask respondents what their own views are on same-sex adoption. I divide the responses in three categories: “anti-flankers” who fully disagree, “pro-flankers” who fully agree and “moderates” in the middle. Pro-flankers are the most common.

But do voters really expect Muslim politicians will be against same-sex adoption? Well, yes. Given the Homonationalist context Western Europe is moving towards, this is no surprise. See the work by @jkpuar on how LGBT-rights are weaponized to discredit Muslims.