Do Voters Prefer Just Any Descriptive Representative? The Case of Multiracial Candidates

Abstract

Although scholars of representation have examined variation in voter support conditional on shared demographic traits, we know little about how voters respond to candidates who belong to multiple racial categories. Multiracial candidates challenge how we think about and study representation. I theorize that multiracial categories provide mixed information about how well a candidate adheres to group norms of identity, resulting in a multiracial advantage across groups, but a disadvantage within groups. A conjoint survey experiment on 786 White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic voters and a separate analysis of support for a multiracial candidate in a real-world election support these claims. Thus, multiracial candidates have the advantage of building coalitions with voters from other groups, but they are disadvantaged when appealing to co-racials with strong racial identities. These findings demonstrate that future research on representation must engage multiracial elites.

Color in Context: Three Angles on Contemporary Colorism

“…The trend hasn’t shifted much since then; for example, in recent times, Deval Patrick (Gov MA), Doug Wilder (Gov VA), and David Paterson (Lt Gov, Gov NY) are all of a lighter complexion. This pattern is also seen with light(er) complection multiracials including Catherine Cortez Masto (Senator NV), Tammy Duckworth (Senator IL), Barack Obama (President), and Kamala Harris (Vice President) (Lemi 2020; Lerman, McCabe, and Sadin 2015). When Barack Obama became the first Black President, it was not lost on scholars of race, nor the actors in the political sphere itself, that he is of a mixed-race background and of a lighter complexion.…”

“…There is also the problem of biracials with light(er) complexions not being received as “authentic” as their monoracial counterpart and therefore not politically trustworthy. Danielle Casarez Lemi (2020) surveyed White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic respondents on their perception of a candidate who was presented as either monoracial or multiracial. Lemi found that overall, respondents prefer a same-race multiracial candidate when the other option is an outsider monoracial candidate; for example, Hispanics prefer a Hispanic/White candidate compared to a White candidate.…”

“They Say We’re Violent”: The Multidimensionality of Race in Perceptions of Police Brutality and BLM

“…To this point, there have been some recent calls for the adoption of a two-part racial identification question that asks both a standard categorical racial identification item along with a skin-tone self-identification item to better capture the inherent multidimensionality of racialized experiences (Reece 2021; Roth 2016). In a similar vein, a growing body of literature demonstrates that the combination of characteristics associated with one’s appearance have a variety of social implications and so, too, might there be political associations for citizens or political candidates alike (e.g., Brown and Lemi 2021; Lemi 2018, 2020). Carefully incorporating a broader array of characteristics that inform the multidimensionality of race—e.g., skin color, racialized features, size, perceived attractiveness (Monk 2021; Reece 2021)—could provide a fuller picture related to public opinion, political behavior, and other meaningful political outcomes.…”

Do Identity Frames Impact Support for Multiracial Candidates? The Case of Kamala Harris

“…Some scholarly research has examined how these frames affect public support for multiracial political figures, with mixed results. In a hypothetical setting, Lemi (2021) uses a conjoint experiment to show that multiracial candidates attract support from a broad group of voters, but that they face disadvantages when appealing to individuals who share just one of their races and have strong racial identities. Other studies manipulate racial and ethnic cues in the context of real political candidates, as in our study, and draw alternative conclusions.…”