Abstract
Using American General Social Survey data from 1994 to 2018, this paper examines how Americans of different racial backgrounds perceive their past intergenerational mobility and their, and their children’s, prospects for future mobility, before, during, and after Barack Obama’s presidency. We find that White Americans are generally less positive than Black and Latinx Americans about mobility, especially their children’s mobility prospects. However, racial gaps in optimism widened considerably during the Obama presidency, due to a significant decline in White respondents’ perceived mobility. A more detailed analysis of White respondents’ views by levels of racial resentment and political partisanship shows that the Obama-era dip among White respondents is concentrated among those who are racially resentful and among Republican voters, two groups that substantially overlap. For these two groups, perceived future prospects for their and their children’s mobility increased again during the Trump administration. Black and Latinx respondents’ perceptions of mobility are stable across all earlier presidential administrations, but decline somewhat with the Trump presidency.
Highlights
In 2008, the election of Barack Obama as the first Black American president occurred simultaneously with a deep economic crisis
Average levels of expressed models we present, we examine the independent effects of last presidential vote and racial racial resentment among White respondents have declined in more recent years, but interestingly, this resentment, but we should keep in mind that the two factors are associated in this way
We have examined trends in levels of and racial gaps in perceived mobility, that is, people’s perceptions of their own past mobility and their and their children’s prospects for future mobility
Summary
In 2008, the election of Barack Obama as the first Black American president occurred simultaneously with a deep economic crisis. Though it was not the topic of a fully developed study, Cherlin [10], in his 2014 book on the decline of the American working class, notes, in passing, an emerging racial gap in perceived mobility, using some of the same measures that we do from the General Social Survey (GSS). His focus, is on secular changes in White and
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
