Search

The authors explore the relationship between long-term black empowerment and racial turnout rates in Atlanta (Georgia), Cleveland (Ohio), and Los Angeles (California). Symbolic politics, intergroup competition, and political alienation theories are used to explain interracial differences in political participation in mayoral elections. Strong and durable symbolic effects are evident in all three cases. Black turnout equals or exceeds white turnout during and, in the case of Cleveland, after the period of black empowerment. In Los Angeles, however, the symbolic benefits of black empowerment eventually wane as a result of increasing political alienation among black voters., Historically, electoral politics has been the political weapon of choice for minority groups seeking inclusion into U.S. society (Erie 1988). This has been particularly true for blacks over the past [...]

This article proposes a theoretical framework for the study of local voting behavior The central argument is that salient group interests often act as political cues in local elections. The extent to which group interests influence electoral outcomes and overshadow other mom traditional political cues. such as partisanship is fundamentally related to the political context and the degree of group conflict. Analyzing public opinion surveys from three mayoral elections--New York (1989), New York (1993), and Los Angeles (1993)--this study finds that heightened levels of group conflict correspond with racially motivated voting in all three cases, From the standpoint of minority politics, cities represent the greatest promise for political empowerment and inclusion. By far the greatest degree of minority incorporation has been achieved in this domain, [...]

Research demonstrates that competition over resources can have an important influence on minority political behavior. To date, however, the effects of these local conditions on Latino political behavior have gone largely unexamined. Employing a most similar case study design to overcome the lack of data on intragroup attitudes and political behavior nationally, we examine the voting behavior of Cubans and non-Cuban Hispanics in two Florida counties. The group position thesis holds that status inequalities and perceived discrimination yield out-group hostilities that can influence political behavior. In Miami, where Cubans are dominant, we expect non-Cuban Latinos to report greater pan-Latino competition and that anti-Cuban attitudes will influence non-Cuban Hispanic voting. In Tampa, where non-Cuban Latinos live in communities where Cubans are not dominant, we expect lower levels of perceived competition and Cuban-related attitudes to be inconsequential to the vote. The results confirm that power relations in the local arena constitute an important influence on the political behavior of Latino immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A large body of scholarly literature points to the growing influence of religious devotion on U.S. partisanship. This article attempts to reconcile the growing religious commitment cleavage in the American party system with the commensurate growth in the gender gap. If women are, on average, more religiously devout than men, and if contemporary shifts in partisanship are disproportionately founded on religious and cultural cleavages, then why are women more likely to identify with the Democratic Party? I pose three possible explanations for this apparent paradox: (1) that the influence of religion is only considerable among the most committed; (2) that men and women politicize their religious beliefs in different ways; and (3) that gender differences in opinion on nonreligious issues sustain the partisan gap, over and above the conservative influence of religiosity. Findings from structural equation analyses demonstrate that religious devotion affects the politics of men and women in similar ways. Religious commitment affects partisan choices but does not override the powerful effects of gender. Gender differences in support for the social welfare state and the preeminence of social welfare opinion in the partisan calculus of men and women largely explain the persistence of the gender gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]