How are we doing? Group-based economic assessments and African American political behavior

Abstract

Using data from the National Black Election Study, this study tests the importance of group-based economic evaluations in driving African American political behavior.11The analyses presented here are based on data archived by the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR Study Number 9954). The original collector of the data, ICPSR, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for uses of this collection or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses. All estimations reported here were produced using STATA/MP, version 11.0. Full replication information is available from the author. Group-based evaluations powerfully influence presidential approval and vote choice, even controlling for national and personal evaluations and a conception of “linked fate.” More importantly, group-based assessments exert a significant and independent influence on turnout, the central variable in black electoral politics. The results extend and reconsider the implications of group solidarity as a motivator of black political behavior and suggest that a revision of traditional notions of economic voting is in order, at least for African Americans.