Title

Racial resentment and the changing partisanship of southern whites

Authors

Authors

J. Knuckey

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Party Polit.

Keywords

party identification; racial resentment; realignment; southern politics; SYMBOLIC RACISM; HOUSE ELECTIONS; REALIGNMENT; ATTITUDES; BEHAVIOR; PARTY; PERSPECTIVE; ELECTORATE; PREJUDICE; POLITICS; Political Science

Abstract

One of the most important developments in southern politics in recent years has been the increase in the number of whites holding Republican Party identifications. This article examines the effects of racial attitudes on changing levels of partisanship. Specifically, the article focuses on the concept of racial resentment or symbolic racism. This is an appropriate concept to examine the effects of the contemporary racial attitudes on partisanship, as racial issues have become much more diffuse in nature. It is argued that in the 1990s the southern Republican congressional leadership was especially successful in making salient issues likely to activate the racial resentment of southern whites. A multivariate analysis demonstrates that racial resentment was not a strong or significant predictor of partisanship prior to 1994; however; in 1994 and 2000 racial resentment had a large and significant effect on parrisanship. These findings suggest that race and racial attitudes continue to shape southern party politics in the early twenty-first century.

Journal Title

Party Politics

Volume

11

Issue/Number

1

Publication Date

1-1-2005

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

5

Last Page

28

WOS Identifier

WOS:000226319800001

ISSN

1354-0688

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