Divided by Racial Attitudes? The Changing Politics of White Americans

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Two major forces have contributed to shifts in white Americans’ racial attitudes in recent years: changing racial demographics and, in 2020, a “racial reckoning”. Respectively, these changes pushed at least some white Americans to the right and others to the left. We explore these dynamics in this created panel and focus specifically on racial liberalism and pro-social attitudes among white voters. Chudy and Arora use original panel data to examine whether young white individuals who came of age during the Floyd protests are especially racially liberal and whether these views change over the course of an election year. Lienesch investigates whether threats to White Democrats’ racial identity can diminish their support for racial justice protests. Engelhardt, Huffman, and Oelerich reevaluate existing theories about Whites’ response to changing demographics in America to determine the cause and durability of these established findings. English explores how the Black Lives Matter protests and broader racial reckoning in 2020 instigated race-related learning among White Americans. Quintanilla develops a new measurement tool to probe how Americans think about the power dynamics between racial groups and how these views vary by partisanship among White Americans. Together, these papers explore how the contemporary political moment serves to liberalize the racial politics of some White Americans while driving others further to the right.

Sub Unit

• Division 5: Political Psychology

Individual Presentations

• Still Stasis? Racial Attitudes of Young Adults during an Election Year - Jennifer Chudy, Wellesley College; Maneesh Arora, Wellesley College

• Validating Whites’ Reactions to the “Racial Shift” - Andrew M. Engelhardt, Stony Brook University; Nicole Huffman, Stony Brook University; Veronica Oelerich, Stony Brook University

• Close Race: How Correcting Underestimations of African Americans with Irish Ancestry Impacts Irish Americans’ Racial Attitudes - Jasmine Hope English, Stanford University

• Racial Identity Threats and White Democrats’ Support for Racial Justice Protests - Rachel Lienesch, Vanderbilt University

• Power and Need in the American Imagination - Eugenia Quintanilla, University of Michigan

Chair

• Antoine J. Banks University of Maryland

Discussants

• Anna Mikkelborg Colorado State University

• Steven Moore Wesleyan University