Abstract
Political rhetoric surrounding Universal Health Care in the United States typically deals only with differences in political ideology. Research on symbolic racism, however, indicates that subtle racial prejudice may also predict attitudes toward policies like universal health care that are assumed to benefit racial minorities. This subtle racial prejudice hypothesis was supported across three studies conducted in the U.S. A measure of attitudes toward universal health care was found to be a reliable, single-dimension measure associated with political ideology (Pilot Study). Subtle racial prejudice (as measured by the Modern Racism Scale) predicted opposition to universal health care, even when statistically controlling for political ideology and attitudes toward the poor (Study 1). Moreover, reading about a Black individual (compared to a White individual) receiving universal health care benefits reduced support for universal health care, even when statistically controlling for political ideology and right-wing authoritarianism (Study 2). Being a person who takes advantage of the system (e.g., free rides) was a significant predictor of universal health care attitudes while race was not (Study 3). This work demonstrates that subtle racial prejudice plays a critical role in predicting universal health care attitudes among U.S. citizens, reflecting a long-standing history of associations between subtle racial prejudice and opposition to governmental assistance programs in the U.S.
Highlights
Political rhetoric surrounding Universal Health Care in the United States typically deals only with differences in political ideology
We developed a measure of universal health care and assessed its reliability and internal consistency as well as its association with political ideology (Pilot Study) to be used in the present studies
We demonstrated that the universal health care attitudes scale was a reliable measure with a single-factor structure and that political ideology predicted universal health care attitudes as expected
Summary
Political rhetoric surrounding Universal Health Care in the United States typically deals only with differences in political ideology. Indicates that subtle racial prejudice may predict attitudes toward policies like universal health care that are assumed to benefit racial minorities. Subtle racial prejudice (as measured by the Modern Racism Scale) predicted opposition to universal health care, even when statistically controlling for political ideology and attitudes toward the poor (Study 1). Since the Civil Rights movement—which aimed to end racial segregation and discrimination against Black U.S citizens—overt prejudice has declined in the U.S (Brown, 2010) Despite this progress, modern racism takes on more subtle forms, such as Whites opposing or resenting governmental programs designed to eliminate extant racial inequalities (Kinder & Sears, 1981). Given the relationship between race and these types of public policies, support for universal health care may be influenced by subtle racial prejudice
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