… Mass politics has become more polarized by racial attitudes because of Barack Obama’s rise. As I show, the election of President Obama helped usher not a post-racial but a “most-racial” political era. Racially liberal and racially conservative Americans are now more divided over a host of political positions — evaluations of public figures, policy preferences, vote choices for Congress and party identification — than they have been in modern times.
A natural consequence of that “racialization” of American politics is that Democrats and Republicans will continue viewing racial controversies like Ferguson, Baltimore and the Confederate flag through very different lenses. CONT.
Michael Tesler (UC Irvine), The Monkey Cage