Something in Common?

Abstract

Does elite rhetoric influence how Latinos view their relationship with African Americans?In this paper, we provide a systematic empirical assessment of the impact that elite messages have on Latino perceptions of economic and political commonality by drawing on two unique data sources: the 2006 Latino National Survey (LNS) and a survey experiment embedded in the September 2010 Latino Decisions Tracking Poll (LDS). Our analysis reveals that the attitudinal effects of exposure to elite messages are strongly conditioned by one's political partisanship. To be more precise, we find that although exposure to elite messages leads Democrats to express more in common politically with African Americans, it fails to exert any significant influence among other groups and on different dependent variables. Specifically, the evidence presented here shows that reception of persuasive messages from like-minded political leaders contributes nothing to our understanding of how attitudes on economic commonality are formed and very little to our understanding of the source from which perceptions of political commonality arise among Republicans and Independents. In addition to making significant contributions to the literatures on commonality, multiracial coalitions and public opinion, these findings also make a strong case for further evaluating the role of political leadership in forging bonds of cooperation across racial lines.

Immigrant Rights in a Deep South City

“…56 as a "jobs" bill, embracing instead an alternative "civil rights" interpretation, the extent to which non-elite Black citizens were exposed to and embraced either frame is unclear. Ordinary citizens often rely on cues from political elites when forming their opinions about politics (Berelson 1954 ;Downs 1957 ;Gilens and Murakawa, 2002 ;Lee 2002 ;Wallsten and Nteta, 2012 ;Zaller 1992 ) but little attention has been paid to the relationship between contemporary Black elite cues and broader Black public opinion on immigration. In this case, Black elites might have stronger commitments to ideology and less material vulnerability than the Black public on the question of immigration.…”