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Moderating Backlash: Racial Mobilization, Partisan Coalitions, and Public Policy in the American States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Brian S. Krueger  and
Paul D. Mueller
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Abstract

In general, state public policy responds positively to increased electoral participation among social groups. However, consistent with the racial threat hypothesis, this pattern appears to reverse itself for African Americans: as blacks turn out in greater proportions they actually incur decreasing policy responsiveness. Another research tradition suggests that political parties play a crucial mediating role between interests and government. Thus, African Americans may be able to counter this backlash effect by increasing their participation in the Democratic partisan coalition. Using a variety of pooled time series techniques, we demonstrate the general robustness of the racial backlash model but find that when African Americans increase their contribution to the Democratic coalition, state policy responds better to their interests. This result demonstrates the centrality of parties for democratic responsiveness.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Summer 2001 , pp. 165 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 The American Political Science Association

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