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Rainbow Coalitions or Inter-minority Conflict? Racial Affinity and Diverse Minority Voters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2015

Randy Besco
Randy Besco*
Affiliation:
Queen's University
*
Political Studies Department, Queens University, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, 68 University Ave, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada, Email: randy.besco@queensu.ca
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Abstract

There is a considerable amount of research about racial affinity effects, that voters are likely to support a candidate of the same race. However, it is unclear it this applies only to candidates of the voters' specific ethnocultural group or to racialized candidates in general. Previous research suggests that the prospects for “rainbow coalitions” on the basis of group identities are poor; indeed, findings of inter-minority conflict are common. This study uses new data from a web-based survey experiment with a large panel of racialized respondents. Respondents evaluated fictional candidates with the ethnicity of the candidates experimentally manipulated. While respondents show strong affinity for their own ethnocultural group, they also show some affinity for other minority candidates and certainly no inter-minority conflict. Effects are strongly conditional on the degree of ethnic self-identity. “Rainbow coalitions” may be more likely than previous research suggests.

Résumé

Il existe une quantité considérable de recherches sur les effets des affinités raciales qui portent sur la susceptibilité des électeurs à soutenir un candidat de la même race. Toutefois peu d'études examinent cet effet lorsqu'il s'applique uniquement aux candidats de groupe ethnoculturel spécifique des électeurs, ou aux candidats racialisés en général. Des études précédentes suggèrent que les « coalitions arc-en-ciel » basées sur des identités de groupe sont improbables; en effet, les exemples de conflits inter-minorités sont courants. Cette étude utilise les données provenant d'une nouvelle expérience de sondage web se basant sur un large panel de répondants racialisés. Les répondants ont évalué des candidats fictifs, dont l'origine ethnique a été manipulée pour les buts de l'expérience. Bien que les répondants montrent une forte affinité pour leur propre groupe ethnoculturel, ils montrent aussi une certaine affinité pour d'autres candidats issus de minorités, sans démontrer de conflits inter-minoritaires. Les effets dépendent fortement du degré d'auto-identité ethnique. Les « coalitions arc-en-ciel » seraient donc plus probables que les recherches antérieures le suggèrent.

Type
Immigration and Identity Politics in Canada
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 305 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2015 

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