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The Role of an African‐American Candidate on Psychological Engagement and Political Discussion in a Local Election
Author(s) -
SULLIVAN JAS M.,
MAJOR LESA HATLEY,
GOIDEL KIRBY,
KURPIUS DAVID
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2009.00173.x
Subject(s) - politics , democracy , african american , white (mutation) , political science , race (biology) , local election , american political science , social psychology , psychology , gender studies , sociology , law , biochemistry , ethnology , chemistry , gene
There have been numerous studies of African‐American political participation, but little research investigating the effect of African‐American candidates on political discussion. This is surprising, given the importance of political discussion in democratic theory and the increased attention it has received in the literature. We address this gap by examining the effect of a successful African‐American Democratic candidate on psychological engagement and political discussion in a majority white, majority Republican local election in the Deep South. Our findings reveal a paradox—African‐American voters paid more attention to the election and reported being more informed and more satisfied with the candidates, but were less likely to have discussed the election. The negative effect of race was less than in other concurrent races, indicating that the presence of an African‐American candidate may limit but not erase participation differentials in political discussion.