Voters are more likely to support Asian-American candidates in American elections

Most academic research into minorities who run for office has been focused on African-Americans and Latinos. But how does race affect the electoral chances of Asian- Americans? In new research, Neil Visalvanich examines how voters support for candidates changes depending on whether or not the candidate is white, foreign born, or Asian-American. He finds that across all ideologies and information levels, voters prefer Asian-American candidates

When Does Race Matter? Exploring White Responses to Minority Congressional Candidates

How significant of a factor is race in minority candidate evaluation? I present theory of race and minority candidate evaluation which argues that candidate race acts as an informational heuristic that affects perceptions of a candidate's ideological leaning and competence but that this effect is dependent on contextual factors, including the racial group and candidate partisanship. Using the 2010 and 2012 Cooperative Congressional Elections Study, I provide an observational look at Latino and Asian candidates in addition to black candidates for the first time, as well as minority candidates of both partisan stripes. I examine voter perceptions about candidates that might drive their vote choice, namely ideological assessments and competence assessments. I find that white voters are less likely to support Latino and black Democrats because they are viewed as less competent and more ideologically extreme. I find that Asian candidates and minority Republicans are largely unaffected by these biases

Primaries and Candidates: Examining the Influence of Primary Electorates on Candidate Ideology

Primary elections in the United States have been under-studied in the political science literature. Using new data to estimate the ideal points of primary election candidates and constituents, we examine the link between the ideological leanings of primary electorates and the ideological orientation of US congressional candidates. We use district-level data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study and ideal point estimates for congressional primary election candidates to examine the role of primary electorate ideology in the selection of party nominees. We find that more extreme Republicans are more likely to win their party’s primary and that Republican and Democratic candidates are responsive to different electoral constituencies

Racial cues not only change the opinions people have, but also the public political actions they take.

The use of racially charged imagery and messages has a long history in US politics. But how do such racial cues affect how Americans participate politically beyond holding opinions? In new research, Hans Hassell and Neil Visalvanich find that whites are less likely to participate politically when prompted by minority advocacy. They argue because of race’s influence on political motivation, political elites or interest groups could use racial priming to motivate or demotivate public political action, not just change political opinions

Perceptions of Electability: Candidate (and Voter) Ideology, Race, and Gender

Previous work has shown candidate electability is an important consideration to voters in deciding who to support. However, we do not know what candidate qualities voters consider more electable, especially in the absence of polling information. While scholarship has documented general election penalties for candidates with certain demographic and ideological characteristics, we do not know whether voters actually use these factors when judging electability. Using a conjoint experimental design, we examine how candidate characteristics influence perceptions of candidate electability. We find voters perceive women and minorities as less electable and ideologically extreme candidates as more electable. However, perceptions of electability vary with voter characteristics. Our results indicate that arguments about electability, for many individuals, are based on their own ideological preferences (and to a lesser extent, their identity) rather than systematically viewing candidates with attributes that provide general election advantages as more electable

State legislators are less likely to respond to constituents who are not white

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 has reignited debates over immigration and race in America. In new research, Micah Gell-Redman, Neil Visalvanich, Charles Crabtree, and Christopher Fariss examine how state legislators respond to minority and immigrant constituents by sending emails to more than 5,000 elected officials in 42 states. They find that Black and Hispanic senders were less likely to receive responses compared to whites, and were especially less likely from Republican legislators. Asians, they write, were even less likely to receive responses, but this was regardless of whether the legislator was a Republican or Democrat

Advantages, Challenges and Limitations of Audit Experiments with Constituents

Audit experiments examining the responsiveness of public officials have become an increasingly popular tool used by political scientists. While these studies have brought significant insight into how public officials respond to different types of constituents, particularly those from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds, audit studies have also been controversial due to their frequent use of deception. Scholars have justified the use of deception by arguing that the benefits of audit studies ultimately outweigh the costs of deceptive practices. Do all audit experiments require the use of deception? This article reviews audit study designs differing in their amount of deception. It then discusses the organizational and logistical challenges of a UK study design where all letters were solicited from MPs’ actual constituents (so-called confederates) and reflected those constituents’ genuine opinions. We call on researchers to avoid deception, unless necessary, and engage in ethical design innovation of their audit experiments, on ethics review boards to raise the level of justification of needed studies involving fake identities and misrepresentation, and on journal editors and reviewers to require researchers to justify in detail which forms of deception were unavoidable

Race in a "Post-Racial" America : : An Experimental and Observational Look at the Effect of Race on Political Behavior

In what many view as a "post-racial" world, does race still have a significant influence the political behavior of whites? I argue that an increasingly racially diverse America necessitates a more dynamic look at how race might effect perceptions of minority candidates and influence public policy outcomes. In chapter 1, I test the relative role race plays in the evaluation of white voters for black, Asian, and Latino candidates of both major parties, examining observational data on Latinos and Asian candidates for the first time. I find that even after accounting for non-racial variables, white voters are less likely to vote for Hispanic and black Democrats because they are viewed as less competent and more ideologically extreme than similar white candidates. Meanwhile, I find that Asian candidates and minority Republicans are largely unaffected by these biases. In chapter 2, I examine the willingness of individuals to write their member of Congress in support of a non-racial political cause, which I experimentally treat with racial cues. I show that whites with higher levels of racial resentment are less likely to act politically in support of a policy perceived as benefiting ethnic and racial minorities. In chapter 3, I place an Asian candidate in a bi-racial electoral contest with a white candidate in three different informational contexts - a low-information context, with few political cues, an ideological context, featuring left -right ideological cues, and a foreign information context, featuring cues that emphasize an immigrant/foreigner status. I find that in a low-information context, Asian candidates do significantly better than white candidates. This advantage is largely diminished by placing Asian candidates in an ideological contest, however. And finally, I find that, contrary to expectations, Asian candidates are not significantly disadvantaged from being immigrant and foreign bor

Replication Data for: The Party's Primary Preferences: Race, Gender, and Party Support of Congressional Primary Candidates

Party support has a strong influence on candidate success in the primary. What remains unexplored is whether party actions during the primary are biased along racial and gender lines. Using candidate demographic data at the congressional level and measures of party support for primary candidates, we test whether parties discriminate against women and minority candidates in congressional primaries and also whether parties are strategic in their support of minority candidates in certain primaries. Our findings show parties are not biased against minority candidates and also that white women candidates receive more support from the Democratic party than do other types of candidates. Our findings also suggest that parties do not appear to strategically support minority candidates in districts with larger populations of minorities. Lastly, we also find no significant differences in the effects of party support on the likelihood of success in the primary by candidate race or gender