welfare and crime to convey implicit racial messages. That is, rather than explicitly arguing for
racist policies or making racist overtures, they use these issues as ways in which race can be
discussed covertly (Mendelberg, 2001).
3
This works because welfare and crime have been
racialized in the minds of many white Americans (Gilens,1999; Gilliam and Iyengar, 2000).
Thus, such issues offer the opportunity to appeal to racial resentment without seemingly
violating the norm of equality.
What strategies are used by Republicans to attract African American voters? As
discussed earlier, Republicans tend to receive very little of the black vote due to their
conservative stance on racial issues, some of which are seen as racist (Sirgo, 1995; Kinder &
Sanders, 1996). Because of this, Republican presidential candidates typically do not speak to
African American audiences, nor do they attempt to reach out to individual voters of that race.
Instead, they deliver a token speech or make one visit to an inner city as a gesture to show that
they are not totally ignoring the black community. In the end, however, it is merely a gesture.
As Mendelberg states,
Many Republicans seem well aware of the hopelessness of gaining the support of
African-American voters on a racially conservative platform. They too expend some
effort to appeal to African-American voters. That effort, however, is purely symbolic,
designed not to genuinely compete for African-American voters, but to ensure that the
media and the opposition cannot criticize the candidate for ignoring African Americans
(Mendelberg, 2001, 105).
A number of studies demonstrate these dynamics in the context of presidential
campaigns. In particular, the use of William Horton and the furlough issue as an implicit racial
3
Republican opposition to liberal racial policy is also discussed very differently today. Gone is the explicit racial
rhetoric used by southern whites four decades ago.
Convention