Peer-Reviewed:

 

Does Incumbency Matter?: Black Voter Support for Non- Incumbent POC Democratic Candidates in the 2018 Congressional House of Representatives Elections (with Andrea Benjamin)

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Abstract

During the 2018 House of Representatives elections, the United States saw a larger influx of minority candidates than elections in recent years. Many of these candidates were non-incumbents who ran successful campaigns against long-standing incumbents. Using the 2018 Cooperative Election Study data (CCES), we analyze the likelihood of Black voters to support White candidates over minority candidates, with a focus on incumbency status. Previous research has found that Black voters tend to display a larger affinity to support minority candidates due to theories such as group identity and racial voting. Given what is known from the literature about Black voting patterns, our study sets out to determine the extent to which incumbency matters for Black voters in the 2018 Congressional House of Representative (HOR) elections. The findings of our analysis reveal that Black voters are significantly more likely to support Democratic POC candidates, and significantly less likely to support Democratic white incumbents as compared to white voters. The findings of our study illuminate that both the affinity to support minority candidates and incumbency matter to Black Voters.

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Identity Driven Information Ecosystems (with Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice, Guadalupe Madrigal, Gavin Ploger, Mia Carbone, Ava Francesca Battocchio, Stuart Soroka)

 

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical approach that highlights the role of identity in information exposure and processing. This Identity Driven Information Ecosystem (IDIE) approach is premised on the idea that everyone’s information ecosystem varies, shaped by who they are, where they live, and who they interact with. Identities play a crucial role in determining the sites of communication that individuals use and engage with, and as a result, there are systematic differences in where people get information, what information they see, and how they react to it. This article lays out an argument for how identity is associated with the information we are exposed to, select, believe, and share; and it argues that identity, technology, affordances, and structures interact to shape our information ecosystems. The article concludes with a case study of the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustration of applying the IDIE approach to understand individual-level variation in information ecosystems.

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Crafting Democratic Futures: Understanding Political Conditions and Racialized Attitudes Toward Black Reparations (with Kamri Hudgins, Erykah Benson, Jasmine Simington, Zoe Walker, Jessica Cruz, Vincent Hutchings, Earl Lewis, Mara Cecilia Ostfeld, and Alford Young Jr.)

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Abstract

As a growing number of states and municipalities consider reparative policies for Black Americans, it is important to understand what shapes support for and opposition to these policies. We explore the role that awareness of racial inequality plays in shaping attitudes. Drawing on data from a large, representative survey in Detroit and one national survey, we find that awareness of racial inequality plays a powerful role in the likelihood of supporting reparative policies. Yet, in follow-up surveys, we find that exposing respondents to information on the rationale for and importance of reparations does not shift public support. These findings suggest that it is the awareness of racial inequality that is cultivated over time that appears to be the dominant force in building support for reparations. These findings are particularly important during a time when many school districts are severely restricting access to information about the history of Black Americans.

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Depictions of Black Americans in U.S. Television News (with Stuart Soroka)

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Abstract

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How are Black Americans depicted in U.S. television news? This paper provides an empirical investigation into the news topics in which Black Americans are mentioned, or not mentioned, across nearly the entire population of network television news content from 1990 to 2020. Previous literatures suggest that Black Americans are most likely to appear in stories about (a) crime and violence, (b) poverty and welfare, (c) civil rights and protest, and (d) sports. Based on structural topic modelling of news transcripts, we find broad support for some of these expectations, across a much larger corpus than has been available in prior work. Indeed, we find that Black Americans are most likely to appear in topics such as sports, and criminal violence, and are largely absent from areas such as business and health. Our findings have important implications for the study and practice of journalism, and for our understanding of the nature and effects of racial depictions in U.S. media.

 

 

       Public Scholarship:

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 What Kamala Harris' Intersectional Identity Could Mean for how Voters Evaluate Her in the 2024 Election 

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Understanding Public Opinion Toward Black Women Political Elites (Center for American Women and Politics)

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