Perceptions of White Privilege as Predictors in the 2016 Presidential Primaries

• In Event: Conceptions of White Identity and Their Role in Contemporary U.S. Politics

Abstract

The political autopsy of the 2016 election has taken many forms, with a number of studies ruling out economic anxiety as a major factor of Trump’s success among white Americans, and homing in on negative feeling and attitudes about racial outgroups as a powerful explanation. Still under-explored is a concentrated and robust study of whether and how candidate preference amongst white Americans was related to the belief that whiteness is advantageous, disadvantageous, or inconsequential in contemporary America. Specifically, was candidate preference at the outset of the primaries related to how whites think about the life chances of their racial group in elemental realms of American life such as employment, education, interactions with the police, and how they are treated as consumers in a service-based economy? Are candidate preferences related to whether white people think their own personal life chances have been enhanced, diminished, or unaffected by being white? Additionally, does one’s agreement with the premise that racism systemically benefits white people animate attitudes about who should lead the country? If so, do these white-on-whiteness measures explain candidate preference after controlling for attitudes about President Barack Obama, or beliefs about racial outgroups?

Author

• Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, George Mason University