Decades of political science research show that political attitudes can be strongly affected by the events we experience in adolescence and young adulthood, or what are sometimes referred to as the “impressionable years.” New research shows how this applies to the racial attitudes of young people who came of age […] Read more »
The GOP’s Dixiecrat Problem
… The rise of the Dixiecrat Party, like that of the Tea Party sixty years later, was ostensibly the result of one faction within a political party coming to believe its policy interests had been neglected. But on a more fundamental level, it was the product of demographic changes in […] Read more »
150 Years of Racism: Attitudes in the American South
… A new paper by Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen has discovered that the proportion of enslaved residents in 1860—153 years ago—predicts race-related beliefs today. As the percent of the population in a county accounted for by the enslaved increases, there is a decreased likelihood that contemporary white […] Read more »
The Color of Affordable Care
… An Associated Press survey of racial attitudes conducted immediately before the presidential election last year clearly suggests that most Americans try not to discriminate, but that racial loyalties shape their perceptions of economic benefits. When asked if President Obama’s race affected the likelihood they would vote for him, 80 […] Read more »
Stark Divide Between Blacks, Whites on Gun Control and Health Care
Immigration isn’t the only issue that represents a hurdle for Republicans hoping to improve their performance among Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans, and other minority voters. This week’s United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll tested attitudes about two of the most incendiary issues now dividing the parties in Washington: health reform and […] Read more »
Few think all of Martin Luther King’s goals have been met
There is widespread consensus about the impact of Martin Luther King Jr. on the lives of black Americans — more than four in five Americans think he improved their lives, according to a new CBS News poll released Wednesday. Eighty-five percent of Americans think he made things better for blacks, […] Read more »