Proximity and the principle-policy gap in white racial attitudes: Insight from views of student assignment policies in Wake County, North Carolina

Abstract

We use a survey of residents of Wake County, North Carolina to test a proximity explanation for what scholars call the “principle-policy gap” in whites' views of government action on race. The derived hypothesis is confirmed when underlying broad views of race are represented by ideology. We show that whereas liberals are materially more supportive of racial diversity in student bodies than are moderates and conservatives, this difference is reduced to statistical insignificance as respondents’ personal situations are more directly affected by the policy—a condition denoted by having a child of school age. Liberals with school-aged children are particularly wary of racial integration when they are asked to support the diversification of classrooms as opposed to schools. Having a school-aged child has no material conditioning effect on views of diversity when attitudes are represented by a more explicit measure of racial views.