Progress or Backlash? The Political Effects of Affirmative Action Enforcement

• In Event: Historical Political Economy

Abstract

Affirmative action programs in public sector agencies are a canonical example of race-conscious remedial policy. While these regimes increase public sector diversity, conventional wisdom suggests that they may have also generated political backlash, increasing support for the Republican Party in the 1970s and 80s. Surprisingly, there has been little study of potential backlash to the implementation of local affirmative action policies. Exploiting the onset of court-mandated affirmative action plans in U.S. law enforcement agencies, difference-in-differences estimates suggest a positive effect of affirmative action on Democratic vote shares. However, additional analyses suggest that “white flight” from affected jurisdictions explains much (but not all) of the electoral effect. The results paint a nuanced picture of the political consequences of race-conscious social policy

Authors

• Abhay Aneja, UC Berkeley

• Jake M Grumbach, Princeton University