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The Color of the Campaign
images received only one-third of the vote. In addition, the number of people refusing to vote
was 14 percentage points higher in the dark-skinned black treatment group.
This finding of bias against the darker-skinned black candidate was not specific to the
vote totals but was the dominant pattern across all of the manipulations. Subjects reported that
they identified more with the light-skinned Turner than the same dark-skinned candidate.
Another interesting pattern emerges in the feeling thermometer rating. Recall that in the control
group, people were more likely to rate the white Turner negatively relative to his white
opponent, Tom Sheldon. However, in Treatment 1A people appeared to reward the light-skinned
black Turner and his mean rating was significantly higher than his white opponent, the same
white opponent that two-thirds of people favored in the control group. If we take this to mean
that the introduction of a black candidate prompted subjects to self-monitor then it is interesting
to note that people were much less likely to self-monitor in Treatment 1B, where the light-
skinned black candidate was replaced with a darker-skinned version of the same candidate. The
dark-skinned candidate was rated less favorably relative to his white opponent and relative to the
light-skinned candidate in Treatment 1A.
Perhaps the reduced favorability of the dark-black relative to the light black is due to
sample differences; could the decreased support for the dark black be due to less Democrats in
the third treatment? This is probably not the case given that Democrats were less likely and
Republicans more likely to vote for Turner in the third treatment. However, the effects could be
due to proportionately more men and less educated in this treatment and not skin color. This is
difficult to test empirically because men were more likely to vote against the dark Turner, which
could be due to their darker skin or to fact that men were less likely to vote for Turner in all
treatments so more men equates to less support for Turner. In other words, the results could be
Convention