W
EAVER
3
The Color of the Campaign
Very little research has explored the low incidence of black candidates, successful and
unsuccessful, for statewide office. Citrin, Green, and Sears analyzed how racial attitudes of
whites influenced their voting in the 1982 gubernatorial election in California between Tom
Bradley and George Deukmejian, finding that “the impact of a candidate’s race on voting
depends on a number of contextual factors.”
They conclude that Bradley’s race did not
encourage racially motivated voting behavior any greater than that observed in the races with
white candidates (racial attitudes affected support for white candidates perceived to be more
liberal on race issues). The study implied that liberal white candidates were just as likely to be
similarly punished by voters who were resentful over the governments perceived preferential
policies. This study had several major problems, the primary one being that they compared races
with black candidates for different levels of elected office (governor, superintendent).
Related work explores the extent of racial crossover voting and the conditions under
which black candidates can attract white votes. An early study analyzed over fifty biracial
election contests in Atlanta. White voters were more likely to vote for black candidates if they
were incumbents or had the backing of local newspapers. Black incumbents were almost three
times as likely non-incumbent black candidates (challenger and open-seat contestants) to receive
the support of white voters.
Other work suggests that partisan voting is diminished in an
election with a black candidate.
Racial, not partisan, difference is the primary factor explaining
the variance in support for black candidacies. Race, not party, was also the most important
3
Citrin, Jack, Donald Philip Green, and David O. Sears. “White Reactions to Black Candidates: When Does Race
Matter?” Public Opinion Quarterly 54:1 (Spring, 1990), 74-96.
4
Bullock, Charles S., III. “Racial Crossover Voting and the Election of Black Officials,” Journal of Politics 46:1
(Feb. 1984).
5
Lieske, Joel and Jan William Hillard. “The Racial Factor in Urban Elections,” The Western Political Quarterly
37:4 (Dec. 1984): 545-563.
Convention