Voting for Minority Candidates in Multiracial/Multiethnic Communities

Abstract

Recent research suggests that over time the performance of minority officeholders rivals racebased attitudes and group membership as the primary determinant of citizen evaluations of minority officeholders. Here, we examine the determinants of electoral support for an AfricanAmerican mayor in a multiracial/multiethnic venue. We test alternative explanations (race, social distance, and performance-based models) of voter support for an African-American mayor in a setting where no ethnic or racial group represents more than half the electorate. Our findings indicate that approval ratings coexist with racial-group identification as a determinant of voter support for minority mayors, with one important caveat. Racial voting appears to be more influential in minority candidates' first electoral bids. While race strongly influences voter support for minority mayors during their initial run for office, job approval becomes more important when the minority candidate runs for reelection.The rate at which non-Anglo candidates have succeeded at the ballot box continues to increase. Some communities have more than 20 years of experience with African-American mayors, council members, and state and congressional representatives. More importantly, minority candidates are increasingly winning elections in districts and communities where minority voters are not a majority of the electorate, a fact especially important in a nation trending toward a demographic distribution in which Anglos consti-157

Representation in Municipal Government

“…Arceneaux (2005) finds that survey respondents connect their evaluation of mayors' performance on traffic congestion and other salient issues to their vote choice. Finally, Stein, Ulbig, and Post (2005) find that mayoral approval significantly predicts vote choice in several recent Houston mayoral elections. Finally, Stein, Ulbig, and Post (2005) find that mayoral approval significantly predicts vote choice in several recent Houston mayoral elections.…”

Substantive Symbols: The Attitudinal Dimension of Black Political Incorporation in Local Government

“…Given recent evidence showing that performance now rivals race when it comes to evaluating black mayors' performance while in office (Howell and Perry 2004; Stein, Ulbig, and Post 2004), this latter finding may not be altogether surprising. However, the present study demonstrates this confluence of representational and policy effects more systematically than perhaps has been the case thus far.…”

“…For instance, the elevated expectations and enhanced feelings of empowerment blacks typically feel upon the election of African American officials may be replaced with feelings of alienation if these officials do not take actions that respond to black constituents' needs (see Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Tate 2003). Indeed, a handful of recent studies show that performance has come to rival race‐based attitudes and group membership as the key determinant of both citizen evaluations of minority officeholders (Hajnal 2001; Howell and McLean 2001; Howell and Perry 2004) and these elected officials' chances of reelection (Stein, Ulbig, and Post 2004). Thus further empirical tests are needed in order to more fully explore whether representation‐fueled attitudinal effects are driven by racial empathy alone or whether government outputs—what black elected officials do when in office—matter as well.…”

Postracial Politics?

“…Viable Black candidates often have to compete with White opponents in attracting White voters' support in order to win U.S. elections. Thus, the willingness of Whites to vote for Black candidates has drawn considerable attention from students of racial politics (Carsey 1995 ;Gillespie 2012 ;Hajnal 2007 ;King and Smith, 2008 ;Kraus and Swanstrom, 2005 ;Liu 2006 ;Lublin 1997 ;Stein et al, 2005 ). It has been found that Americans often cast their votes along racial lines (Barreto 2007 ;Dawson 1994 ;Gay 2004 ;Kinder and Sanders, 1996 ;Liu and Vanderleeuw, 2007 ).…”