The threat of increasing diversity: Why many White Americans support Trump in the 2016 presidential election

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 931-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Major ◽  
Alison Blodorn ◽  
Gregory Major Blascovich
Keyword(s):  
Political Correctness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Ethnic Identification ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Shift Condition ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Immigrant Policies ◽  
Racial Demographics

What accounts for the widespread support for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential race? This experiment demonstrates that the changing racial demographics of America contribute to Trump’s success as a presidential candidate among White Americans whose race/ethnicity is central to their identity. Reminding White Americans high in ethnic identification that non-White racial groups will outnumber Whites in the United States by 2042 caused them to become more concerned about the declining status and influence of White Americans as a group (i.e., experience group status threat), and caused them to report increased support for Trump and anti-immigrant policies, as well as greater opposition to political correctness. Increased group status threat mediated the effects of the racial shift condition on candidate support, anti-immigrant policy support, and opposition to political correctness. Among Whites low in ethnic identification, in contrast, the racial shift condition had no effect on group status threat or support for anti-immigrant policies, but did cause decreased positivity toward Trump and decreased opposition to political correctness. Group status threat did not mediate these effects. Reminders of the changing racial demographics had comparable effects for Democrats and Republicans. Results illustrate the importance of changing racial demographics and White ethnic identification in voter preferences and how social psychological theory can illuminate voter preferences.

Cultural Inertia

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Quezada ◽  
Moira P. Shaw ◽  
Michael A. Zárate
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Ethnic Identification ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Latino Culture ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
Inertia Model ◽  
Collective Self Esteem

The Latino population in the United States is rapidly increasing. This increase produces cultural change, and the cultural inertia model suggests that cultural change is resisted if one’s cultural identity must change. The present study investigates the role of ethnic identification in Latinos’ reactions to pressures to assimilate to mainstream American culture. Perceptions of cultural change were manipulated and prejudice toward White Americans, support for pro-minority legislation, and individual differences in collective self-esteem and openness to cultural change were measured. When biased to believe that their culture will have to change, Latinos high in collective self-esteem expressed greater prejudice toward White Americans and stronger political advocacy for Latino culture. These results support the cultural inertia model and make recommendations for how to improve intergroup relations.

Political ideology moderates White Americans’ reactions to racial demographic change

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110525
Author(s):  
Xanni Brown ◽  
Julian M. Rucker ◽  
Jennifer A. Richeson
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Status Change ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Past Work ◽  
Control Information ◽  
Racial Demographics

An emerging body of research finds that exposure to the shifting racial demographics of a nation can engender concerns about racial group status among members of the dominant racial group. The present work revisits this finding, probing a broader set of group status concerns than has been examined in most past research. Three experiments exposed four samples of White Americans to racial demographic information or race-neutral control information, then assessed their perception that the relative status of racial groups in the nation would change and the extent to which they were alarmed by such a status shift—that is, status threat. Consistent with past work, what we now term perceived status change increased in response to salient racial demographics information, relative to race-neutral control information, irrespective of participants’ political ideology. Departing from past work, however, the perceived threat associated with changing racial demographics was moderated by political ideology. Specifically, politically conservative White participants demonstrated high levels of group status threat in the neutral control condition that either increased (Study 1a, Study 2) or stayed equally high (Study 1b, Study 3) after exposure to information about a racial shift. In contrast, in all studies, politically liberal White participants demonstrated a modest level of group status threat in the control condition that was attenuated upon exposure to a racial shift. Taken together, these results suggest a polarization of responses to the increasing racial diversity of the nation, one that was not observed even just a few years ago.

The effects of racial status threat on White Americans’ support for Donald Trump: Results of five experimental tests

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110488
Author(s):  
Sheridan Stewart ◽  
Robb Willer
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Experimental Treatment ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Identification ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Total N ◽  
Over Time

Prior theory and research suggest that threats to the status of White Americans may increase support for Donald Trump. Consistent with this, one previous experiment conducted in early 2016 documented this effect (Major et al., 2018), finding that making salient the declining White majority in the United States increased support for Trump’s presidential candidacy among White participants with high levels of ethnic identification. We report the results of five very similar experiments (total N = 3,076) also conducted in 2016, including one conducted on a national probability sample. The first experiment (conducted in January 2016) found that racial status threat increased Whites’ support for Trump. The other four (conducted from February to October 2016), however, all found null results, and an internal meta-analysis of the five studies found no significant main effect overall. Additionally, none of the studies found an interaction of racial demographic shift and ethnic identification in which racial demographic shift increased Trump support among high-identifying Whites. We conclude by discussing a variety of potential explanations for our findings, including (a) that racial status threats did not increase Whites’ Trump support, (b) that racial status threats increased Trump support early in the 2016 election cycle, but the role of this factor in Trump support declined over time, or (c) that this pattern is an example of a broader tendency of declining experimental treatment effects on candidate support over time in campaigns (Kalla & Broockman, 2018).

Fighting death with health inequality: The role of mortality cognition and shifting racial demographics in policy attitudes

2020 ◽  
pp. 136843022092037
Author(s):  
Tyler Jimenez ◽  
Peter J. Helm ◽  
Jamie Arndt
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Demographic Changes ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Demographic Shifts ◽  
Racial Demographics

White Americans are predicted to soon comprise less than half of the U.S. population. Such demographic changes can affect political attitudes by threatening group status. The present studies built from this literature to examine a process in which information about such demographic shifts can also affect health policy attitudes, in part by increasing death-related thoughts, and that health inequalities may in turn buffer such cognitions. Three experiments ( N = 1,651) adopted a causal chain approach to test these ideas. In Study 1, exposure to demographic changes decreased support for equitable health policies. In Study 2, the demographic manipulation increased death-thought accessibility, unless paired with information about worsening health inequalities. In Study 3, contemplation of mortality lessened both support for equitable health policies and resources allocated to health equity. Health inequalities may mitigate existential concerns raised by shifting racial demographics.

scholarly journals The Pitfalls and Promise of Increasing Racial Diversity: Threat, Contact, and Race Relations in the 21st Century

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen A. Craig ◽  
Julian M. Rucker ◽  
Jennifer A. Richeson
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
The United States ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Group Status ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

A decades-long trend toward greater racial and ethnic diversity in the United States is expected to continue, with White Americans projected to constitute less than 50% of the national population by mid century. The present review integrates recent empirical research on the effects of making this population change salient with research on how actual diversity affects Whites Americans’ intergroup attitudes and behavior. Specifically, we offer a framework for understanding and predicting the effects of anticipated increases in racial diversity that highlights the competing influences of intergroup concerns, such as relative group status and power, and more interpersonal experiences, such as positive contact, on intergroup relations. We close with a discussion of the likely moderators of the effects of the increasing national racial diversity and consider implications of this societal change for racial equity in the 21st century.

The Complexity of Health Disparities: More Than Just Black–White Differences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Charles Ellis ◽  
Molly Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Health Disparities ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Language Pathology

Health disparities have once again moved to the forefront of America's consciousness with the recent significant observation of dramatically higher death rates among African Americans with COVID-19 when compared to White Americans. Health disparities have a long history in the United States, yet little consideration has been given to their impact on the clinical outcomes in the rehabilitative health professions such as speech-language pathology/audiology (SLP/A). Consequently, it is unclear how the absence of a careful examination of health disparities in fields like SLP/A impacts the clinical outcomes desired or achieved. The purpose of this tutorial is to examine the issue of health disparities in relationship to SLP/A. This tutorial includes operational definitions related to health disparities and a review of the social determinants of health that are the underlying cause of such disparities. The tutorial concludes with a discussion of potential directions for the study of health disparities in SLP/A to identify strategies to close the disparity gap in health-related outcomes that currently exists.

Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands: A Feasibility Study for a Biomass-to-Energy Plant on the Cocopah Reservation in Arizona

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Lauren K. D’Souza ◽  
William L. Ascher ◽  
Tanja Srebotnjak
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Energy Plant ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Alternative Investment

Native American reservations are among the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States; lacking access to economic and educational opportunities that are exacerbated by “energy insecurity” due to insufficient connectivity to the electric grid and power outages. Local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass offer energy alternatives but their implementation encounters barriers such as lack of financing, infrastructure, and expertise, as well as divergent attitudes among tribal leaders. Biomass, in particular, could be a source of stable base-load power that is abundant and scalable in many rural communities. This case study examines the feasibility of a biomass energy plant on the Cocopah reservation in southwestern Arizona. It considers feedstock availability, cost and energy content, technology options, nameplate capacity, discount and interest rates, construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and alternative investment options. This study finds that at current electricity prices and based on typical costs for fuel, O&M over 30 years, none of the tested scenarios is presently cost-effective on a net present value (NPV) basis when compared with an alternative investment yielding annual returns of 3% or higher. The technology most likely to be economically viable and suitable for remote, rural contexts—a combustion stoker—resulted in a levelized costs of energy (LCOE) ranging from US$0.056 to 0.147/kWh. The most favorable scenario is a combustion stoker with an estimated NPV of US$4,791,243. The NPV of the corresponding alternative investment is US$7,123,380. However, if the tribes were able to secure a zero-interest loan to finance the plant’s installation cost, the project would be on par with the alternative investment. Even if this were the case, the scenario still relies on some of the most optimistic assumptions for the biomass-to-power plant and excludes abatement costs for air emissions. The study thus concludes that at present small-scale, biomass-to-energy projects require a mix of favorable market and local conditions as well as appropriate policy support to make biomass energy projects a cost-competitive source of stable, alternative energy for remote rural tribal communities that can provide greater tribal sovereignty and economic opportunities.

The Racial and Economic Context of Trump Support: Evidence for Threat, Identity, and Contact Effects in the 2016 Presidential Election

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Knowles ◽  
Linda Tropp
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Racial Identification ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Neighborhood Diversity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
To Come ◽  
Neighborhood Level ◽  
Support Evidence

Donald Trump's ascent to the Presidency of the United States defied the expectations of many social scientists, pundits, and laypeople. To date, most efforts to understand Trump's rise have focused on personality and demographic characteristics of White Americans. In contrast, the present work leverages a nationally representative sample of Whites to examine how contextual factors may have shaped support for Trump during the 2016 presidential primaries. Results reveal that neighborhood-level exposure to racial and ethnic minorities is associated with greater group threat and racial identification among Whites, as well as greater intentions to vote for Trump in the general election. At the same time, however, neighborhood diversity afforded Whites with opportunities for intergroup contact, which is associated with lower levels of threat, White identification, and Trump support. Further analyses suggest that a healthy local economy mutes threat effects in diverse contexts, allowing contact processes to come to the fore.

The Challenges of Displaying “Asian American”: Curatorial Perspectives and Critical Approaches

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-32
Author(s):  
ShiPu Wang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
American Art ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Art Exhibitions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Racial Demographics

This essay delineates the issues concerning AAPI art exhibitions from a curator’s perspective, particularly in response to the changing racial demographics and economics of the past decades. A discussion of practical, curatorial problems offers the reader an overview of the obstacles and reasons behind the lack of exhibitions of AAPI works in the United States. It is the author’s hope that by understanding the challenges particular to AAPI exhibitions, community leaders, and patrons will direct future financial support to appropriate museum operations, which in turn will encourage more exhibitions and research of the important artistic contribution of AAPI artists to American art.

Questions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Gibson ◽  
Michael J. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
The U.S

We have investigated the differences in support for the U.S. Supreme Court among black, Hispanic, and white Americans, catalogued the variation in African Americans’ group attachments and experiences with legal authorities, and examined how those latter two factors shape individuals’ support for the U.S. Supreme Court, that Court’s decisions, and for their local legal system. We take this opportunity to weave our findings together, taking stock of what we have learned from our analyses and what seem like fruitful paths for future research. In the process, we revisit Positivity Theory. We present a modified version of the theory that we hope will guide future inquiry on public support for courts, both in the United States and abroad.

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