Obama's Economy: Conditional Racial Spillover Into Evaluations of the Economy. (7th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Philip; Mohanty, Ruchika
• Is Part Of: International journal of public opinion research. Volume 30:Number 3(2018)
• Page Start: 365
• Page End: 390
• Publication Date: 2017-09-07
• Subjects: Public opinion -- Addresses, essays, lectures -- Periodicals; 303.38
• DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edx014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-2892

Abstract

Abstract: Barack Obama possesses the proverbial "Midas Touch" when it comes to race in American politics: everything he touches becomes racialized. We demonstrate this phenomenon using evaluations of the subjective performance of the economy. President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign served as a subtle prime connecting the president to the economy, resulting in racial attitudes altering economic evaluations in 2012 to an extent never before seen. Racial attitudes influenced retrospective economic evaluations, but the effect of racial animosity was contingent on both partisanship and the presence or absence of positive information. While economic evaluations in 2012 were racialized, these effects depend on the political predispositions of the voter as well as the composition of the information environment surrounding the issue.