When Does Race Matter? Exploring White Responses to Minority Congressional Candidates

Visalvanich, Neil

Abstract

How significant of a factor is race in minority candidate evaluation? I present theory of race and minority candidate evaluation which argues that candidate race acts as an informational heuristic that affects perceptions of a candidate's ideological leaning and competence but that this effect is dependent on contextual factors, including the racial group and candidate partisanship. Using the 2010 and 2012 Cooperative Congressional Elections Study, I provide an observational look at Latino and Asian candidates in addition to black candidates for the first time, as well as minority candidates of both partisan stripes. I examine voter perceptions about candidates that might drive their vote choice, namely ideological assessments and competence assessments. I find that white voters are less likely to support Latino and black Democrats because they are viewed as less competent and more ideologically extreme. I find that Asian candidates and minority Republicans are largely unaffected by these biases.

Citation

Visalvanich, N. (2016). When Does Race Matter? Exploring White Responses to Minority Congressional Candidates. Politics, Groups and Identities, 5(4), 618-641. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2016.1146152

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 18, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Feb 25, 2016
• Publication Date: Feb 25, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jan 18, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 25, 2017
• Journal: Politics, Groups and Identities
• Print ISSN: 2156-5503
• Electronic ISSN: 2156-5511
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 618-641
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2016.1146152
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1422416