1. Race, Trust, and the American Presidency: Black- White Confidence in the Executive Branch in the Obama Era and Beyond

Abstract

This chapters asks, Does having a Black president, compared to previous administrations occupied by White presidents, lead to aberrational trust in government for Blacks and Whites? I posit that the Obama presidency indeed had this effect. During the years of the Obama presidency, we saw changes in perceptions of trust and political efficacy among Black Americans. Using national public opinion data from the American National Election Study from 1992 to 2014, this chapter gauges how Black Americans perceived their influence(s) on the political system during different years to determine what, if any, lasting impact Obama's presidency may have on Black political involvement and trust in the political system. The results of the public opinion analyses indicate that trust attitudes during the Obama presidency were more positive for Blacks than Whites; however, compared over the forty-year period, the results are not consistently aberrational. Subsequently, I examine the racial implications of these results for Americans’ political trust after the Obama era, especially during the early years of the Donald J. Trump presidency.