Black Voters, Black Candidates, and Social Issues: Does Party Identification Matter?^*

Abstract

Much is known about voting behavior generally; less is known about voting behavior of African Americans in particular due in part to the overwhelming support of black voters for Democratic candidates. However, some argue that black conservatism on social issues could lead to more Republican voting. Copyright (c) 2007 Southwestern Social Science Association.

African American’s Political Attitudes, Party Affiliation, and Voting Behavior

“…All the other ethnic groups showed negative scores for the Punitive factor F(3,391)=12.71, p<0.01. Inconsistent with Kidd et al (2007), there were no significant differences in how different ethnic groups rated the Secular/Evangelical factor, F(3,391)=0.372, ns. Interestingly, African-Americans and Caucasians both scored negatively on the Global Concern factor F(3,391)=6.67, p<0.01.…”

“…In addition, African Americans' were negative and consistent with Republicans for attitudes toward environmental or global type issues. Thus, in addition to the differences between Democrats and African Americans on the issues of abortion and gay rights as shown by Kidd et al (2007), the current study shows that African Americans' also differ from the average Democrat on environmental or global type issues. It should be noted that the Secular/Evangelical factor in the current study was a combination of those attitudes (abortion and gay marriage) measured by Kidd et al (2007), but also included broader issues like legalization of drugs and government support of family values.…”

“…Since Kidd et al (2007) was able to show ethnic differences in attitudes towards abortion and gay rights and that these differences did not translate into voting behavior, we expected to see similar inconsistencies in the national election. That is, despite some issues represented by the Republican Party being important to African Americans, their voting behavior was predicted to be predominately Democratic.…”

“…Even with a direct competition between two African Americans with one running as a Republican who emphasized traditional values, the competing candidate running as a Democrat supporting gay marriage and abortion still won the majority of African American votes (Kidd et al 2007). These authors found that despite the Republican candidate's highlighted support of issues important to African Americans, the Democratic label had more of an effect on African American voting behavior in the congressional election they studied.…”

“…African Americans in the past election and most of the recent past have overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates (Welch and Foster 1992;Olsen and Green 2006;Kidd et al 2007). Even with a direct competition between two African Americans with one running as a Republican who emphasized traditional values, the competing candidate running as a Democrat supporting gay marriage and abortion still won the majority of African American votes (Kidd et al 2007).…”