Voting Rights and Media Sentiment: Evidence from Early Suffrage States

Martin Saavedra ()

The Journal of Economic History, 2025, vol. 85, issue 3, 664-700

Abstract: Did women’s suffrage affect media sentiment toward voting rights and narratives about women more generally? I identify pro- and anti-suffrage language using publications that explicitly argued for or against early voting reform. I then measure media sentiment using language in newspapers and topic modeling to identify common themes about either suffrage or women. Difference-in-differences estimates show that newspaper coverage of suffrage increased when women won the vote but then declined below baseline. Newspaper sentiment moved in opposition to the status quo, with average sentiment becoming more anti-suffrage. Lastly, suffrage increased discussions of women in politics for several years.

Date: 2025
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