The lack of candidate diversity and the descriptive under-representation of groups such as women and young people in parliaments is a recurring concern in both public and academic debates. While prior studies have examined whether voters prefer candidates who share their gender or age, findings remain mixed and are often based on experimental designs. Using conditional logit models and combined survey-candidate data from the 2021 German Federal Election, we assess whether voters considered gender and age similarities with district candidates when casting their votes. This election, shaped by heightened media focus on under-represented groups and public discourse around gender and age, offers a strong case for exploring group-based voting behavior. Despite this context, our results show no general effect of gender or age similarity on vote choice. Gender cues do not influence candidate preferences, even among women or left-leaning voters. While age similarity has no overall impact, younger voters on the left are more likely to support younger candidates, whereas their right-leaning counterparts favour older ones. These findings suggest that identity-based cues matter only for specific subgroups under certain conditions. Our study highlights the limits of affinity voting in information-rich settings compared to the stronger effects often found in experimental research.