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Race, Partisanship, and Attitudes Toward Public Policy Commonality and Legislative Districts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2018

Jason P. Casellas ,
Daniel Q. Gillion  and
Sophia Jordán Wallace
Jason P. Casellas
Affiliation:
University of Houston
Daniel Q. Gillion
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Sophia Jordán Wallace*
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Seattle
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Sophia Jordán Wallace, Department of Political Science, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. E-mail: sophiajw@uw.edu
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Abstract

This paper utilizes original survey data to examine whether individuals believe they share views on public policy with members of their own racial or ethnic group and whether they place an importance on living in legislative districts with people from their own racial or ethnic group. We find strong evidence that Latino and African-American respondents have a sense of shared policy preferences within their own group. Our results also indicate white Republicans are very likely to view themselves as having shared policy preferences within their group. Respondents who have a strong sense of shared policy preferences with their racial group are also the most likely to think it is important to live in legislative districts with others from their own racial or ethnic group. This paper affords a deeper understanding of the extent to which voters express commonality with their racial and ethnic minority group on matters related to public policy.

Keywords

Representationpublic policycommonalityrace
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 32 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2018 

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