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Dissertation Information for Jas M. Sullivan

NAME:
- Jas M. Sullivan

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Political Science

SCHOOL:
- Indiana University (USA) (2005)

ADVISORS:
- Marjorie Hershey

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Edward G Carmines
- Gerald C Wright
- Michael J Ensley
- Frederick L McElroy

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: All in the eyes of the beholder: Race and electoral politics

Abstract: While there has been an increase in black elected officials in the United States, they are, for the most part, elected from areas that have high concentration of blacks. The reality is that when blacks seek political office outside of majority black and majority-minority (black plus Latino) districts, they persistently fail. Often, an explanation for this failure is due to racial stereotyping of black candidates by white voters which leads them to vote against black candidates for legislative offices. What then explains the victory of a handful of black elected officials who have won outside of majority black and majority-minority districts? Presently, knowledge of why voters sometimes vote along racial lines and sometimes cross over to support a candidate from a different racial group is deficient. Consequently, this investigation focuses on the following question: under what conditions are white voters more likely to support a black candidate for legislative office? The findings suggest that the root cause of the lack of black electoral success may be due to two reasons: first, the electorate's use of racial heuristic, in the absence of political information; and second, due to similarity attraction (i.e., a Republican respondent is more likely to support a Republican candidate over a Democratic candidate). In the light of these findings, the root cause of the lack of black electoral success may be due to race in situations when individuals use race as a heuristic as a substitute for political information; however it may also be due to the fact that people simply support others who personify them. Therefore, claiming that it's the race of the candidate that prevents blacks from winning elections is only partly accurate. What this means for electoral representation is that, on the basis of the findings, black candidates must effectively convey information about their party and ideology, form multi-racial coalitions, discuss their positions on a variety of issues of interest to the whole community rather than just race-related issues.

MPACT Scores for Jas M. Sullivan

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-09-22 17:06:45

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