Background

We are interested in the effect of class- vs. race-based societal zero-sum thinking on perceived impact of economic policy and support for that policy. To that end, we measure societal zero-sum beliefs of both race and class, introduce economically progressive policy (either increase in minimum wage or student debt forgiveness), ask about this policy’s impact on racial/economic equality, two racial groups (white people and black people), two class groups (working class and upper class), and relative impact of policy on working class vs. racial minorities.

Demographics

Race

race	N	Perc
Asian	15	7.5
Black or African American	19	9.5
Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin	6	3.0
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	1	0.5
Other (please specify)	1	0.5
White	140	70.0
multiracial	18	9.0

Gender

gender	N	Perc
man	101	50.5
woman	97	48.5
NA	2	1.0

Age

age_mean	age_sd
38.64	10.54

Education

edu	N	Perc
noHS	1	0.5
GED	47	23.5
2yearColl	22	11.0
4yearColl	88	44.0
MA	26	13.0
PHD	14	7.0
NA	2	1.0

Income

County-level data

We also asked them which county they live in. And then, with census data, we got their county’s GINI coefficient, median income, and population density.

GINI

Median income

Population density

Politics

Ideology

Participants were asked about the extent to which they subscribe to the following ideologies on a scale of 0-100 (select NA if unfamiliar): Conservatism, Liberalism, Democratic Socialism, Libertarianism, Progressivism, Right-Wing Nationalism (removed from plot because it’s too heavily skewed).

Party ID

party_id	N	Perc
Democrat	92	46
Independent	58	29
Republican	50	25

Vote in 2020

vote_2020	N	Perc
Joe Biden	109	54.5
Donald Trump	46	23.0
I did not vote	35	17.5
Third-party candidate	10	5.0

Vote in 2024

vote_2024	N	Perc
Joe Biden	99	49.5
Donald Trump	49	24.5
I will not vote	28	14.0
Other	16	8.0
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.	6	3.0
Cornel West	1	0.5
Jill Stein	1	0.5

Measures

Class-based Zero-Sum Beliefs

Adapted from Davidai & Ongis, 2019: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.aay3761

The more working class people are able to get into positions of power, the more upper class people lose their status in society
The easier it is for working class students to gain admission to college, the more it becomes difficult for upper class students to get admitted
The more resources the government spends on predominantly working class regions in the U.S., the less it spends on predominantly upper class regions
The more influence working class people have in politics, the less influence upper class people have in politics
When working class people move up in society, they do so at the expense of upper class people
The easier it is for working class people to get high-paying jobs, the more difficult it becomes for upper class people to get the same jobs

alpha = 0.9

Race-based Zero-Sum Beliefs

Adapted from Davidai & Ongis, 2019: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.aay3761

The more racial minorities are able to get into positions of power, the more white people lose their status in society
The easier it is for racial minorities to gain admission to college, the more it becomes difficult for white students to get admitted
The more resources the government spends on predominantly racial minority regions in the U.S., the less it spends on predominantly white regions
The more influence racial minorities have in politics, the less influence white people have in politics
When racial minorities move up in society, they do so at the expense of white people
The easier it is for racial minorities to get high-paying jobs, the more difficult it becomes for white people to get the same jobs

alpha = 0.93

Policy

Participants were shown one of the following policies.

Minimum wage: Congress has not increased the federal minimum wage, currently set at 7.25 Dollars, since 2009. Some Congresspeople are proposing a policy that would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to 15 Dollars an hour by 2025. After 2025, the minimum wage would be adjusted each year to keep pace with growth in the median wage, a measure of wages for typical workers.

Student debt forgiveness: Some Congresspeople are proposing a policy that would help to address the student loan debt crisis by forgiving up to 50,000 Dollars in loans per borrower. Approximately 42 million Americans, or about 1 in 6 American adults, owe a cumulative 1.6 trillion Dollars in student loans. Student loans are now the second-largest slice of household debt after mortgages, bigger than credit card debt.

Policy support

To what extent do you oppose or support this policy? (1 = Strongly Oppose to 7 = Strongly Support)

Relative impact

What is the relative impact of this policy on racial minorities as opposed to the working class? (1 = More impact on racial minorities to 7 = More impact on the working class)

Impact on racial/economic equality

How do you think this policy will impact… (-3 = Greatly reduce equality to 3 = Greatly increase equality)

1. Raciel equality
2. Economic equality

Impact on groups

On average, how do you think this policy will impact each of the following groups? (-3 = Extremely Harmful to 3 = Extremely Helpful)

1. White people
2. Black people
3. The working class
4. The upper class

Analysis

Correlation Matrix

I’ll start with a big correlation matrix.

Relative impact as DV

Reminder: Relative impact ranges from 1 (More impact on racial minorities) to 7 (More impact on the working class)

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-23)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	4.27	[3.78, 4.76]	17.18	194	< .001
Zs class	0.04	[-0.10, 0.18]	0.56	194	.575

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-24)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	4.02	[3.57, 4.47]	17.58	194	< .001
Zs race	0.12	[-0.01, 0.24]	1.84	194	.067

Policy support as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-25)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	5.96	[5.28, 6.64]	17.24	198	< .001
Zs class	-0.22	[-0.42, -0.02]	-2.21	198	.028

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-26)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	6.82	[6.23, 7.41]	22.76	198	< .001
Zs race	-0.49	[-0.66, -0.32]	-5.80	198	< .001

Impact on economic equality as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-27)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	1.16	[0.71, 1.62]	5.08	196	< .001
Zs class	-0.01	[-0.15, 0.12]	-0.21	196	.836

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-28)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	1.66	[1.25, 2.07]	7.97	196	< .001
Zs race	-0.17	[-0.28, -0.05]	-2.88	196	.004

Impact on racial equality as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-29)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	0.66	[0.28, 1.04]	3.42	195	< .001
Zs class	0.03	[-0.08, 0.14]	0.50	195	.615

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-30)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	1.15	[0.80, 1.49]	6.53	195	< .001
Zs race	-0.13	[-0.22, -0.03]	-2.55	195	.012

Impact on white people as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-31)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	1.29	[0.82, 1.75]	5.46	196	< .001
Zs class	-0.04	[-0.17, 0.10]	-0.56	196	.574

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-32)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	1.68	[1.25, 2.10]	7.79	196	< .001
Zs race	-0.16	[-0.28, -0.04]	-2.64	196	.009

Impact on black people as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-33)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	1.83	[1.39, 2.28]	8.17	198	< .001
Zs class	-0.08	[-0.21, 0.04]	-1.29	198	.198

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-34)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	2.06	[1.66, 2.47]	10.03	198	< .001
Zs race	-0.15	[-0.27, -0.04]	-2.66	198	.008

Impact on upper class as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-35)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	-1.05	[-1.53, -0.57]	-4.31	188	< .001
Zs class	0.25	[0.11, 0.38]	3.52	188	< .001

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-36)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	-0.63	[-1.08, -0.18]	-2.76	188	.006
Zs race	0.11	[-0.01, 0.24]	1.77	188	.078

Impact on working class as DV

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-37)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	2.01	[1.52, 2.50]	8.06	197	< .001
Zs class	-0.13	[-0.27, 0.02]	-1.72	197	.086

(#tab:unnamed-chunk-38)
Predictor	\(b\)	95% CI	\(t\)	\(\mathit{df}\)	\(p\)
Intercept	2.44	[2.00, 2.88]	10.91	197	< .001
Zs race	-0.26	[-0.38, -0.13]	-4.09	197	< .001

Class-Based Zero-Sum Beliefs

Pilot: Analysis