Racialized Campaigns in the States: New Questions and New Evidence
Mentor 1
Paru Shah
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
24-4-2015 2:30 PM
End Date
24-4-2015 3:45 PM
Description
We find ourselves at an important moment in American history, where candidates of color are both running and winning office in large numbers. This project is interested in examining what this shift means for political campaigns and race-based appeals in elections. Since the infamous Willie Horton ads of 1988, political scientists have investigated the role of race in campaigns, particularly in activating, or cuing, racial stereotypes and prejudices about Black criminals and brutality, white innocence and vulnerability, and liberal crime policies. More generally, political scientists became interested in the intersections of race and political communication, and the effects of these intersections on both public opinion and electoral outcomes. A large body of scholarship has examined how negative stereotypes of blacks, including perceptions they are “lazy,” “unintelligent,” “untrustworthy,” have hurt their chances of winning elected office.The Racialized Campaigns Project begins with 3,420 unique candidates running in 1,534 elections in 2012. In total, there are 370 African American, and 304 Latino/a candidates. We are interested in assessing the extent of news coverage and racialized content. First, we will count the number of articles written about each candidate, and use this data to examine the relationship between a number of election-level variables (such as size of the minority voting population, competiveness of elections, open seat versus incumbent elections) and media coverage for minority and non-minority candidates.Second, we would code each of the articles along a number of dimensions. The first of these is racial stereotypes, such as laziness, uncaring, irresponsible, untrustworthy, criminal, inexperienced, and unqualified. In addition to stereotypes, we look at two other components of the newspaper articles that may be related to racializing the campaign. The second dimension will examine racial issues: crime, affirmative action, immigration, welfare, and capital punishment. Given their racialized background in public discourse, these public policy issues may used to trigger racial thinking (i.e. Barack Obama is the “food-stamp” president). The third dimension is racially coded language. Do candidates of color refer to their co-racial/ethnic groups as “we”? This content will be particularly important in understanding how racial/ethnic minority candidates use racial appeals to mobilize voters.
Racialized Campaigns in the States: New Questions and New Evidence
Union Wisconsin Room
We find ourselves at an important moment in American history, where candidates of color are both running and winning office in large numbers. This project is interested in examining what this shift means for political campaigns and race-based appeals in elections. Since the infamous Willie Horton ads of 1988, political scientists have investigated the role of race in campaigns, particularly in activating, or cuing, racial stereotypes and prejudices about Black criminals and brutality, white innocence and vulnerability, and liberal crime policies. More generally, political scientists became interested in the intersections of race and political communication, and the effects of these intersections on both public opinion and electoral outcomes. A large body of scholarship has examined how negative stereotypes of blacks, including perceptions they are “lazy,” “unintelligent,” “untrustworthy,” have hurt their chances of winning elected office.The Racialized Campaigns Project begins with 3,420 unique candidates running in 1,534 elections in 2012. In total, there are 370 African American, and 304 Latino/a candidates. We are interested in assessing the extent of news coverage and racialized content. First, we will count the number of articles written about each candidate, and use this data to examine the relationship between a number of election-level variables (such as size of the minority voting population, competiveness of elections, open seat versus incumbent elections) and media coverage for minority and non-minority candidates.Second, we would code each of the articles along a number of dimensions. The first of these is racial stereotypes, such as laziness, uncaring, irresponsible, untrustworthy, criminal, inexperienced, and unqualified. In addition to stereotypes, we look at two other components of the newspaper articles that may be related to racializing the campaign. The second dimension will examine racial issues: crime, affirmative action, immigration, welfare, and capital punishment. Given their racialized background in public discourse, these public policy issues may used to trigger racial thinking (i.e. Barack Obama is the “food-stamp” president). The third dimension is racially coded language. Do candidates of color refer to their co-racial/ethnic groups as “we”? This content will be particularly important in understanding how racial/ethnic minority candidates use racial appeals to mobilize voters.
