The Impact of Race on Attitudes Towards Racism

The article “Race and policing in the 2016 presidential election. Black lives matter, the police, and dog whistle politics ” authored by Drakulich et al (2016), aimed to examine how the views regarding race relations and police affected the voter behavior in the US. The study hypothesized that support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and concern about racially skewed police systems was associated with a higher voter turnout among Democrat supporters and increased support for Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, support towards police and racial opinions played a role in increasing voter turnout for Republicans and votes for Donald Trump and that Donald Trump's show of support towards police was a dog whistle for people who took concern in the issue of white versus African American status as stakeholders argued at the time. The first variable in the study is voter turnout. This variable defines whether an individual voted or not during the 2016 election. Turnout is a dependent variable captured as 1 for those who voted and 0 for those who did not vote. Vote choice is another variable used in the study. For people who voted for Donald Trump, the choice was coded one while people in the group that voted for another presidential candidate were coded 0. From these variables, about one percent of the cases were left out from voting, while about 2.5 percent of people who cast votes were missing from vote choice. These deviations were accounted for in the standard deviation. The views of the police were other variables used in the study. The first variable measures feelings of voters towards police. This variable was measured using a thermometer scale. Respondents were required to express their attitudes towards the police. 0 represented very cold feelings, while 100 represented very warm feelings towards the police. Respondents then had to choose how warmly of how coldly they felt towards the police. Other variables were feelings towards BLM and perception towards racial bias: whether police treated either of the races better or if there was no difference between how police treated different races. These variables were given values, depending on whether police treated whites better than blacks and if they supported BLM. Another variable measured was racial attitude, measures using two different measures. The first measure analyzed racial resentment, which is a form of symbolic racism. The views measured in the study are those driven by social norms and not by political conservatism. Political conservatism is controlled for in the study. This variable is operationalized by averaging responses for the following questions: whether blacks ought to overcome prejudice by working hard, without favors, whether slavery and discrimination had been significant barriers for African Americans, whether African Americans have been given less than they ought to have and whether racial inequalities would be better solves if black people tried hard enough .The first two questions were interpreted as a measure of racial resentment, with higher values meaning greater racial resentment. The last two measures reflected how black people were a threat to politics and whether they had too much influence in politics. A greater measure reflects a greater feeling of black political threat. The variables controlled for include measures of political beliefs. The first is whether respondents identify as liberal or conservative in their beliefs. Another variable controlled is whether respondents identify as democrat or republican. These measures of political belief were each measured on seven-point scales. Other factors controlled that are often associated with political behavior include; gender, marital status, income, education, age, religion, race-ethnicity, employment status, parenthood, and foreign-born status. Data analyzed was from the 2016 American National Election Studies(ANES) Time Series Survey. The data from the survey was collected through one-on-one interviews and internet surveys. The ANES data was collected through a stratified, clustered sampling design based on voters’ address for use in the one-on-one surveys and a sampling design based on addressed to be used for the online surveys. While the ANES data contained most of the information needed for the research, a minimal amount of data was left out. To account for the missing data, the researchers used a multiple imputation strategy. The use of this strategy assumed that the data was missing after controlling for other variables were done and not because the data was missing at random. The literature review done provides a basis for the research and explains the need for assessing the hypotheses. The study starts with reviewing the literature on social movements and their strategies to achieve the desired change. In particular focus is the BLM movement and how a collection of activists and protesters came together to push for racial equality. The movement used the strategy of using social problems to achieve political change. In this light, they specified the issue of racial inequalities, particularly policing practices, attributed blame to the system, proposed a solution, and motivated action. The movement attached a moral imperative to the issue, hence giving it political value and seeking to achieve change. The study further reviews literature explaining how efforts to frame by one group lead to counter-framing efforts by other groups. As such, this bore the idea that "blue lives matter," portraying police as heroes who ought to be supported and not criticized. The literature review also examines law-and-order politics and how this acted as a dog whistle for the 2016 Trump campaign. The BLM movement presented a threat to status quo race relations, hence stirring up the thought of domination by subordinate groups. It examines how politicians leverage on this for political gain. The review examines how politicians have historically redrawn boundaries to draw supporters to themselves. Further, the literature review examined how politicians often approach such dog whistles without outright bluntness. In other words, they seek to avoid talking directly about race and focus on individualism and meritocracy. It demonstrates how politicians have shifted from color-blind racism to the use of implicit racial appeals and dog-whistles to draw voters who feel racially threatened. The literature review further examines the role of police in the racial divide. It demonstrates how police have been portrayed as promoters of racial discrimination as they seek to promote social order. Likewise, police have been seen protecting protesters who marched against racial discrimination. This difference in perception of police then forms the background of the research. I think the literature review was sufficient in this study and adequately represented the relevant studies. It examined the root of the problem to be examined, giving a historical background. The literature review connected all these issues: the BLM movement and its political strategy, the perception of police, the use of dog whistles, and political influence. Going forward, readers can easily understand the background of the study. The findings indicated that how races relate and how policemen treated different races affected voters' behavior during the 2016 presidential elections. Also, when voting behavior, political ideology, age, religious affiliation was controlled, feelings towards policing, perception towards bias in policing, attitudes towards BLM, and racial resentment affected voters' likelihood to turn out to vote. Also, race, religious affiliation, and education were related to voters' choices. Another finding suggested that racial resentment and opinions towards BLM were strongly related to the decision to vote for Donald Trump. Besides, Clinton's stand on racial justice motivated democrats with racial resentment not to vote and encouraged anti-racist Democrats to turn out in large numbers. The findings suggest that racial issues and policing politics influence voting patterns. I think this research can be generalized, based on the study samples and study methodology. The data represented the American voting society and is likely to reflect the situation across the country. In addition, the findings agree with previous studies on the same topics. Also, the researchers explained why and how their research should guide further research. This is because, based on their findings, these views towards policing that were gathered and would help inform future research. The research aims to determine the influence of race and policing in the 2016 presidential election. Hence, it ought to employ a meta-analytic design in the study, using existing data to analyze the possible answers to the research questions. I think the research design was well suited to answer the research questions; they research questions aimed at investigating the situation across the country, amongst a mixed pool of voters. Hence, the source of data was appropriate since it was an extensive collection of voter information. Also, the sampling methods led to a pool of random voters representing a wide range of voter identities. The variables chosen are well operationalized, and the data collected adequately analyzed and presented. I think the study presented the data well enough for the audience to follow the relationship between different variables. The study uses tables to present statistical information, especially for the independent variables. Furthermore, it presents data using graphs that show a relationship between various variables. I think the results of the study are important since they are well analyzed and presented. Besides, the authors explain their method of analysis, which generated the results shown. Therefore, the conclusions generated from the result can be regarded as credible and contributory to the topic of discussion. They form reliable findings that can be used as a background for further research. The study results suggest that the research can be used for further research on the police and its effect on societies. Also, the results are recommended to guide future racial social movements that deal with how police operate in the United States. The research also advises researchers who seek to find out public opinions of the police ought to analyze racial and political symbolism of the police. Some of the potential drawbacks may have been on the data used in the research. One, some of the data needed for the study was missing. Though this was accounted for, it may still have implications for the research. The study also assumes that all respondents' view of the police was not influenced by hearsay, demographics, and political ideology. Hence, while some voters may have friendly views towards the police, they may have been affected by voting patterns and not directly by their views towards the police. Hence, the assumption that the stands of their party candidates directly influenced voters may not reflect an accurate picture. 

Reference 

Drakulich, K., Wozniak, K. H., Hagan, J., & Johnson, D. (2020). Race and policing in the 2016 presidential election: Black lives matter, the police, and dog whistle politics.  Criminology ,  58 (2), 370-402.