1. Polls and Elections: Racial Resentment and Personal Economic Evaluations in the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Elections.
- Author
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Shields, Todd and Maxwell, Angie
- Subjects
- *
PERSONAL finance , *UNITED States presidential election, 2016 , *RESENTMENT , *VOTERS ,RACE relations in the United States ,UNITED States presidential election, 2012 - Abstract
Studies of recent presidential elections emphasize the importance of personal economic evaluations as well as the growing importance of racial attitudes. Less clear, however, is the degree to which economic evaluations are independent of racial considerations. The election of the first African American president offers a unique opportunity to evaluate how elite cues may trigger racial attitudes, a process called "racialization." Once activated, racial attitudes may become a basis for political evaluations. Despite evidence that racial resentment is a predictor of many political attitudes, there is surprisingly little research exploring relationships between racial resentment and economic evaluations. In this investigation, we examine the influence of racial resentment on personal retrospective and prospective economic evaluations in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. These findings have important implications for democratic accountability, particularly in terms of citizens accurately "rewarding or punishing" incumbents based on economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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