Race, Partisanship, and Ideology

Ray Block Jr.

Fall Semester, 2020

Overview

Exploring “race gap” trends in:

  1. housekeeping (PID and ideology as “political orientation”)
  2. self-identified party identification
  3. the link between racial ID and party ID
  4. the link between party ID and ideology
  5. readings on race, partisanship, and ideology

Some Housekeeping

PID and Ideology as “Political Orientation”

Political parties = political groups & intermediary groups

  • advance political agendas
  • connect people to government

Broader in scope than interest groups

PID and Ideology as “Political Orientation”

Ideologies = systems of belief

  • cognitive lenses = they shape perceptions
  • conceptual anchors = they guide thoughts

Broader in scope than interest groups

Race and Party Identification

Race and Party Identification

Among African Americans, this is a story of consistency.

Race and Party Identification

Based on results compiled from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies:

  • For the last few decades, Republicans typically get 8% to 12% of the Black vote (lower in the Obama years)
  • Trump got ~8% of the Black vote, which is surprising, given his racially polarizing rhetoric

Race and Party Identification

A consistent within-race gender gap

Race and Party Identification

According to exit polls (I know… take ‘em with a grain of salt)

  • The % of Black men who prefer Trump is several times larger than the % for Black women
  • This vote-choice breakdown in 2016 is similar to what it was back in 2012
  • Question: do you think it will be the same in 2020?

Racial ID and Party ID

Racial ID and Party ID

…among African Americans

Racial ID and Party ID

…among White Americans

Partisanship and Ideology

Partisanship and Ideology

Partisan homogeneity despite ideological heterogeneity

  • For members of other racial/ethnic groups, party and ideology are closely intertwined
  • But the party-to-ideology correspondence is much weaker among Black people

Partisanship and Ideology

Readings on Race, Partisanship, & Ideology

Readings on Race, Partisanship, & Ideology

Some things to ponder WRT this week’s readings…

  1. Does the “predictive” power of partisanship/ideology vary by race?
  2. If so, how?