Race, political targeting, and value application: the effects of framing on gay rights opinions among Blacks and Whites

Abstract

ABSTRACT We use the concepts of value framing, frame salience, and political targeting to examine variation in the application of values to gay rights opinions among Black and White Americans. Our argument is that value application fluctuates across race as the salience of equality and morality value frames shifts over time. We employ a print news content analysis from 1988 to 2016 to document the shifting salience of frames combined with analysis of American National Election Studies time-series survey data to examine temporal variation in value application across race. Our content analysis highlights the increasing salience of value framing after 2000. Analysis of the survey data indicates that the differential effects of values on gay rights opinions across race also dissipated after 2000. We conclude that the increased salience of these value frames, along with the attention-heightening effect of politically targeting Blacks, enhances the framing effects of values among Blacks.