The Electoral Consequences of Skin Color and Gender Among Black Americans

• In Event: Intersectional Candidates, Communication, and Representation

Abstract

Although sociologists and psychologists have repeatedly demonstrated that colorism shapes how Black Americans evaluate members of their racial group, the literature on colorism in electoral politics remains curiously and ironically bereft of studies of Black Americans. We fill this lacuna in our article by asking how and in what ways might the skin tone and gender of Black candidates shape Blacks’ vote intention along with perceptions of representativeness? Using an original survey experiment with 1,260 Black Americans that varies the gender and skin tone of political candidates, we find that darker-skinned candidates are evaluated more favorably than lighter-skinned candidates. Our results advance the research on colorism in electoral politics and have sweeping implications for the vast body of literature on descriptive representation.

Authors

• Camille Danielle Burge, Villanova University

• Julian Wamble, George Washington University