Black and White beyond the Water’s Edge: Racial Gaps in Foreign Policy Attitudes

• In Event: Searching for the Water’s Edge: Polarization and Foreign Policy

Abstract

Historically, research on racial differences in political attitudes in the United States has focused heavily on domestic politics, and work on polarization in foreign policy has focused predominantly on polarization on partisan lines. Recent work indicates that Black and White Americans often hold differing views on the use of force abroad and free trade at home; however, this article shows that racial gaps on international affairs are not confined to the realm of security or economic issues. Using a unique dataset of 1,504 foreign policy questions from nearly 19,000 Americans surveyed from 1975-2018, we show that racial gaps in foreign policy attitudes exist well beyond questions about trade and the use of force, and persist even controlling for partisan polarization. While racial gaps in foreign policy views vary dramatically based on the specific question, the most pronounced racial gaps have less to do with broad substantive issues, and more to do with where the foreign policy issue takes place: Black and White respondents have systematically different perceptions of where the US has vital interests. Though smaller in magnitude, there are also significant racial gaps in opinion on foreign policy matters that are linked to issues that are traditionally racialized in a domestic context, such as redistributive politics and racial profiling. The results have important implications for the study of both public opinion in IR and race and ethnic politics.

Authors

• Naima Green-Riley, Princeton University

• Joshua D. Kertzer, Harvard University

• Chryl Laird, University of Maryland College Park

• Julian Wamble, George Washington University