141 C Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese roots and presents three potential explanations: issues, discrimination, and in-group favoritism. The results reveal that Muslim in-group favoritism is the decisive factor, contributing to our understanding of voter preferences within religiously diverse European immigration societies. Chapter 4 changes perspective by questioning the general populations’ expectations surrounding Muslim politicians’ stances on homosexuality, addressing the research question: “What shapes voter expectations of Muslim politicians’ views on homosexuality: stereotyping or projection?” By unpacking the cognitive processes underlying these expectations and their implications for voter perceptions, this chapter offers insights into both voter cognition and its influence on political representation. Drawing on political psychology, political inclusion, homonationalism, and populism, the chapter juxtaposes stereotyping and projection as distinct mechanisms shaping voter expectations. Voting citizens with varying attitudes towards homosexuality tend to stereotype or project their views onto politicians, be they Muslim or non-religious. Perceived similarity to Muslims, more common amongst voters with an egalitarian worldview, is shown to be a key determinant of expectations, challenging party gatekeepers’ dilemmas in including Muslim politicians on electoral lists. Expanding beyond the specific contexts of France, Germany, and the Netherlands, this dissertation offers opportunities to understand the role of gender, migration background and religion in voting and representation. Though these phenomena unfold differently across the globe, I touch on some common threads that seem to persist: minority in-group favoritism may be shaped by social status as well as role models that combine descriptive and substantive representation, tempered by policy positions, and influenced by underlying heuristics that navigate decision-making processes. Heuristics of marginalized out-groups can differ among groups based on the degree of egalitarianism in their worldview. Moreover, challenges in both descriptive and substantive representation may come into play. In scenarios where a marginalized minority holds policy positions divergent from the majority and in which their policy positions are disliked and even politicized, achieving descriptive and substantive representation becomes particularly complex. These findings underscore the importance of understanding minority voting and representation as driven by the meaning certain identities have for in-groups and out-groups. This has far-reaching implications for attaining equitable representation and fostering diverse political inclusion within the democracies we are trying to uphold.
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