Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-09T16:45:40.436Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rainbow Coalitions or Inter-minority Conflict? Racial Affinity and Diverse Minority Voters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2015

Randy Besco
Randy Besco*
Affiliation:
Queen's University
*
Political Studies Department, Queens University, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, 68 University Ave, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada, Email: randy.besco@queensu.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is a considerable amount of research about racial affinity effects, that voters are likely to support a candidate of the same race. However, it is unclear it this applies only to candidates of the voters' specific ethnocultural group or to racialized candidates in general. Previous research suggests that the prospects for “rainbow coalitions” on the basis of group identities are poor; indeed, findings of inter-minority conflict are common. This study uses new data from a web-based survey experiment with a large panel of racialized respondents. Respondents evaluated fictional candidates with the ethnicity of the candidates experimentally manipulated. While respondents show strong affinity for their own ethnocultural group, they also show some affinity for other minority candidates and certainly no inter-minority conflict. Effects are strongly conditional on the degree of ethnic self-identity. “Rainbow coalitions” may be more likely than previous research suggests.

Résumé

Il existe une quantité considérable de recherches sur les effets des affinités raciales qui portent sur la susceptibilité des électeurs à soutenir un candidat de la même race. Toutefois peu d'études examinent cet effet lorsqu'il s'applique uniquement aux candidats de groupe ethnoculturel spécifique des électeurs, ou aux candidats racialisés en général. Des études précédentes suggèrent que les « coalitions arc-en-ciel » basées sur des identités de groupe sont improbables; en effet, les exemples de conflits inter-minorités sont courants. Cette étude utilise les données provenant d'une nouvelle expérience de sondage web se basant sur un large panel de répondants racialisés. Les répondants ont évalué des candidats fictifs, dont l'origine ethnique a été manipulée pour les buts de l'expérience. Bien que les répondants montrent une forte affinité pour leur propre groupe ethnoculturel, ils montrent aussi une certaine affinité pour d'autres candidats issus de minorités, sans démontrer de conflits inter-minoritaires. Les effets dépendent fortement du degré d'auto-identité ethnique. Les « coalitions arc-en-ciel » seraient donc plus probables que les recherches antérieures le suggèrent.

Type
Immigration and Identity Politics in Canada
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 305 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barreto, Matt 2007. “Si Se Puede! Latino Candidates and the Mobilization of Latino Voters.” American Political Science Review 101 (3): 425–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, John W. and Kalin, Rudolf. 1979. “Reciprocity of Inter-ethnic Attitudes in a Multicultural Society.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 3 (1): 99–111.Google Scholar
Bilodeau, Antoine, White, S. and Nevitte, N.. 2010. “The Development of Dual Loyalties: Immigrants’ Integration to Regional Canadian Dynamics.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 43 (3): 515–44.Google Scholar
Bird, Karen. 2005. “The Political Representation of Visible Minorities in Electoral Democracies: A Comparison of France, Denmark, and Canada.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 11 (4) 425–65.Google Scholar
Bird, Karen. 2011. “The Local Diversity Gap: Assessing the Scope and Causes of Visible Minority Under-Representation in Municipal Elections.” Pathways to Prosperity. http://p2pcanada.ca/library/the-local-diversity-gap-assessing-the-scope-and-causes-of-visible-minority-under-representation-in-municipal-elections/ (April 20, 2015).Google Scholar
Bittner, Amanda. 2011. Platform Or Personality? The Role of Party Leaders in Elections. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Black, Jerome. 2009. “The 2006 and 2008 Canadian Federal Elections and Minority MPs.” Canadian Ethnic Studies 41 (1): 69–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, Jerome and Erickson, Lynda. 2006. “Ethnoracial Origins of Candidates and Electoral Performance: Evidence from Canada.” Party Politics 12 (4): 541–61.Google Scholar
Browning, Rufus P., Marshall, Dale Rogers and Tabb, David H.. 1984. Protest is Not Enough: The Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Brians, Craig L. 2005. “Women for Women? Gender and Party Bias in Voting for Female Candidates.” American Politics Research 33 (3): 357–75.Google Scholar
Converse, Philip. 1964. “The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.” In Ideology and Discontent, ed. Apter, David. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe.Google Scholar
Crandall, Christian S. and Eshleman, Amy. 2003. “A Justification–Suppression Model of the Expression and Experience of Prejudice.” Psychological Bulletin 129 (3): 414–46.Google Scholar
Cutler, Fred. 2002. “The Simplest Shortcut of All: Sociodemographic Characteristics and Electoral Choice.” The Journal of Politics 64 (2): 466–90.Google Scholar
Gaertner, Samuel L. and Dovidio, John F.. 2000. “Reducing Intergroup Bias: The Common Ingroup Identity Model. Philadelphia PA: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Gaertner, Samuel L., Rust, Mary C., Dovidio, John F., Bachman, Betty A. and Anastasio, Phyllis A.. 1993. “The Common Ingroup Identity Model: Recategorization and the Reduction of Intergroup Bias.” European Review of Social Psychology 4 (1) 1–26.Google Scholar
Focus Canada 2011. Environics Institute. http://www.queensu.ca/cora/_files/Environics%20Institute%20-%20Focus%20Canada%202011%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf (April 18, 2015).Google Scholar
Gay, Claudine. 2006. “Seeing Difference: The Effect of Economic Disparity on Black Attitudes toward Latinos.” American Journal of Political Science 50 (4): 982–97.Google Scholar
Goldmacher, Shane. 2012. “Obama Overwhelmingly Won Asia-American Vote” National Journal. November 8.Google Scholar
Greene, Steven. 2004. “Social Identity Theory and Party Identification.” Social Science Quarterly 65: 136–53.Google Scholar
Greene, Steven. 1999. “Understanding Party Identification: A Social Identity Approach.” Political Psychology 20: 393–403.Google Scholar
Goodyear-Grant, Elizabeth and Croskill, Julie. 2011. “Gender Affinity Effects in Vote Choice in Westminster Systems: Assessing ‘Flexible’ Voters in Canada.” Politics & Gender 7 (2): 223–50.Google Scholar
Hagedoorn, Louk. 1995. “Intergroup Bias in Multiple Group Systems: The Perception of Ethnic Hierarchies.” European Review of Social Psychology 6 (1): 199–228.Google Scholar
Holbrook, Allyson L. and Krosnick, Jon A.. 2010. “Social Desirability Bias in Voter Turnout Reports Tests Using the Item Count Technique.” Public Opinion Quarterly 74 (1): 37–67.Google Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto and Valentino, Nicholase. 2000. “Who Says What? Source Credibility as a Mediator in Campaigns Advertising.” In Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, ed. Lupia, Arthur, McCubbins, Mathew D., and Popkin, Samuel L.. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kalin, Rudolf, and Berry, J.W.. 1996. “Interethnic Attitudes in Canada: Ethnocentrism, Consensual Hierarchy, and Reciprocity.” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 28 (4): 253–61.Google Scholar
Kam, Cindy D. 2007. “Implicit Attitudes, Explicit Choices: When Subliminal Priming Predicts Candidate Preference” Political Behavior 29(3): 343–367 Google Scholar
Kaufmann, Karen M. 2007. “Immigration and the Future of Black Power in U.S. Cities.” Du Bois Review 4 (1): 79–96.Google Scholar
Mael, F.A. and Tetrick, L.E.,. 1992. Identifying Organizational Identification.” Educational and Psychological Measurement 52 (4) 813–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marwah, Inder, Triadafilopoulos, Triadafilos and White, Steve. 2013. “Immigration, Citizenship and Canada's New Conservative Party.” In Conservatism in Canada, ed. Rayside, David and Farney, James. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
McClain, Paula D. and Karnig, A.K.. 1990. “Black and Hispanic Socioeconomic and Political Competition.” American Political Science Review 84 (2): 535–45.Google Scholar
McClain, Paula D., Carter, Niambi M., DeFrancesco Soto, Victoria M., Lyle, Monique L., Grynaviski, Jeffrey D., Nunnally, Shayla C., Scotto, Thomas J., Kendrick, J. Alan, Lackey, Gerald F. and Cotton, Kendra Davenport. 2006. “Racial Distancing in a Southern City: Latino Immigrants’ Views of Black Americans.” Journal of Politics 68 (3) 571–84.Google Scholar
McDermott, Monika L. 1998. “Race and Gender Cues in Low-Information Elections.” Political Research Quarterly 51: 895–918.Google Scholar
Meier, Kenneth J. and Stewart, Joseph Jr. 1991.”Cooperation and Conflict in Multiracial School Districts.” The Journal of Politics 53 (4):1123–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 2013. Settling In: OECD Indicators of Immigrant Integration 2012. www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/settling-in-oecd-indicators-of-immigrant-integration-2012_9789264171534-en (April 20, 2015)Google Scholar
Pew Center. 2012. Latino Voters in the 2012 Presidential Election. Washington: Pew Hispanic Research Center.Google Scholar
Popkin, Samuel. 1991. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Philpot, Tasha S. and Walton, Hanes Jr. 2007. “One of Our Own: Black Female Candidates and the Voters Who Support Them.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (1): 49–62.Google Scholar
Pfeifer, Jennifer H., Ruble, Diane N., Bachman, Meredith A., Alvarez, Jeannette M., Cameron, Jessica A. and Fuligni, Andrew J.. 2007. “Social Identities and Intergroup Bias in Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Children.” Developmental Psychology 43 (2): 496–507.Google Scholar
Sanders, D., Clarke, H. D., Stewart, M. C. and Whiteley, P.. “Does Mode Matter for Modeling Political Choice? Evidence from the 2005 British Election Study.” Political Analysis 15 (3): 257–85.Google Scholar
Schleicher, Andreas. 2006. “Where Immigrant Students Succeed: a Comparative Review of Performance and Engagement in PISA 2003.” Intercultural Education 17 (5): 507–16.Google Scholar
Sears, David O. and Funk, Carolyn L.. 1990. “The Limited Effect of Economic Self-interest on the Political Attitudes of the Mass Public.” Journal of Behavioral Economics 19 (3): 247–71.Google Scholar
Shah, Baiju, R., Chiu, Maria, Amin, Shubarna, Ramani, Meera, Sadry, Sharon and Tu, Jack V.. 2010. “Surname Lists to Identify South Asian and Chinese Ethnicity from Secondary Data in Ontario, Canada: A Validation Study.” BMC Medical Research Methodology 10:42.Google Scholar
Sigelman, Lee and Sigelman, Carol K.. 1982. “Sexism, Racism, and Ageism in Voting Behavior: An Experimental Analysis.” Social Psychology Quarterly 45 (4): 263–69.Google Scholar
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1987. In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. New York: Routledge Press.Google Scholar
Stephenson, Laura and Crête, Jean. 2011. “A Comparison of Internet and Telephone Surveys for Studying Political Behavior.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 23: 24–55.Google Scholar
Stokes, Donald E. 1966. “Some Dynamic Elements of Contests for the Presidency.” American Political Science Review 60:19–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes-Brown, Atiya Kai. 2006. “Racial Identity and Latino Vote Choice.” American Politics Research 34 (5): 627–52.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. 2011. “Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity in Canada.” 2011 National Household Survey. Catalogue no. 99–010-X2011001 www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-010-x/99-010-x2011001-eng.cfm (April 20, 2015).Google Scholar
Tossutti, Livianna S. and Najem, Tom Pierre. 2002. “Minorities and Elections in Canada's Fourth Party System: Macro and Micro Constraints and Opportunities.” Canadian Ethic Studies 34 (1): 85–112 Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri. 1981. Human Groups and Social Categories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Besco supplementary material S1

Besco supplementary material

Download Besco supplementary material S1(File)
File 121.9 KB