Rainbow Coalitions or Inter-minority Conflict? Racial Affinity and Diverse Minority Voters

Abstract

There is a considerable amount of research about racial affinity effects, that voters are likely to support a candidate of the same race. However, it is unclear it this applies only to candidates of the voters' specific ethnocultural group or to racialized candidates in general. Previous research suggests that the prospects for “rainbow coalitions” on the basis of group identities are poor; indeed, findings of inter-minority conflict are common. This study uses new data from a web-based survey experiment with a large panel of racialized respondents. Respondents evaluated fictional candidates with the ethnicity of the candidates experimentally manipulated. While respondents show strong affinity for their own ethnocultural group, they also show some affinity for other minority candidates and certainly no inter-minority conflict. Effects are strongly conditional on the degree of ethnic self-identity. “Rainbow coalitions” may be more likely than previous research suggests.

Racial Attitudes and Vote Choice in National Canadian Elections

“…The findings in this article join an emerging body of research in showing that race is a more central feature in Canadian politics than previously believed. Earlier work has found evidence that racial minorities in Canada support racial in-group candidates at higher rates (for example, Landa et al, 1995; Besco, 2015) and that support for social welfare policies is affected by the racial group perceived to be benefiting from that policy (Stolle et al, 2016). This study finds evidence that these effects extend to the electoral arena as well, with troubling implications for Canadian politics.…”

“…Although this body of work is still relatively new, a number of scholars have examined the independent effect of racial attitudes in Canadian elections. Some of this research has examined support for minority candidates (for example, Murakami, 2014;Black and Erickson, 2006;Black and Hicks, 2006;Besco, 2015;Bird et al, 2016;Tossutti and Najem, 2002), while a smaller body of work has examined how minority identity and feelings toward racial minorities affect partisan vote choice among white voters. Research by Blais (2005) finds that white voters who favour immigration and aid to racial minorities are more likely to support the Liberals in national elections.…”

“…In the 2019 election campaign, Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's use of blackface in his younger days was a highly publicized scandal (Besco and Matthews, 2022;Dobrowolsky and Leal-Iyoupe, 2022). In addition, a body of research has emerged examining multiple dimensions of race in Canadian politics, including electoral support for minority candidates (for example, Besco, 2015;Bird et al, 2016;Black and Erickson, 2006) and public support for permissive immigration policy (for example, Soroka and Roberton, 2010;Harell et al, 2012;Stolle et al, 2016). Despite this flourishing body of research, only a small body of work so far has attempted to assess the relationship between racial attitudes and voters' partisan voting preferences, though Blais (2005) and Gravelle (2018aGravelle ( , 2018b) are notable exceptions.…”

Public Attitudes and Private Prejudices: Assessing Voters’ Willingness to Vote for Out Lesbian and Gay Candidates

“…Candidate-voter affinity may also result in greater support for lesbian or gay candidate by respondents who are themselves sexual minorities. There is significant evidence that affinity voting occurs among women (Goodyear-Grant, 2010;Goodyear-Grant and Crosskil, 2011;Goodyear-Grant and Tolley, 2017), ethno-cultural groups (Bird, 2009;Bird, 2011;Bird et al, 2011;Besco, 2015;Bird et al, 2016;Besco, 2019), and Indigenous populations (Dabin et al, 2019) and it makes sense that it occurs among the LGBTQ population.…”