Unpacking the Black Utility Heuristic: Explaining Black Identification with the Democratic Party

Abstract

The aim of this research is to uncover the nature of the relationship between a black person’s individual circumstances and their perceptions of group interests and party identification, concentrating on explaining blacks’ identification with the Democratic Party. Data taken from the 1996 National Black Election Study is used to estimate blacks’ party identification, testing individual interest and group-interest models. The results of the logistic regressions suggest that individual interests matter when predicting blacks’ party identification. Unlike previous studies, I find that socioeconomic and demographic characteristics vary with blacks’ party identification. Black Americans also rely on group-based political power and economic factors. Blacks’ party identification is driven by evaluations of which political party is most useful to the black community.