Politicians’ Ideology Matters More than Their Race in Determining the Association between White Identity and Evaluation of the Politicians

Abstract

Despite historically being omitted as a socially invisible identity, recent studies suggest that racial identity can play an important role in predicting White Americans’ sociopolitical attitudes and behaviors, demonstrating an emergent trend of White identity politics in the United States. However, whether the effects of White identity politics are more “ideological” or “racial” remains an unclarified question. Four studies using White American samples show that the evidence consistently supports the “ideological” explanation of White identity, the idea that White identity predicts support for conservative politicians and opposition for liberal politicians for their ideology. The evidence is limited for the “racial” explanation, the idea that White identity predicts support for White politicians but opposition for Black politicians for their race. Thus, this paper clarifies the theories about White identity politics as well as implications for whom might benefit from the rise of White identity politics.