Obama as Other: Race, Religion, and Boundary Making in Post-Racial America

• In Event: 366 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session II
  In Refereed Roundtable: B. Table 11. Religion

Abstract

This study asks, “To what extent is white Evangelical identity associated with “othering” Barack Obama by labeling him as a Muslim and/or a non-citizen.” The nascent research on these labels suggests that they stem largely from individuals’ negative racial attitudes towards blacks and holding politically conservative views. Surprisingly, however, the religious aspects of “othering” Obama have gone largely unexamined among social scientists, despite white Evangelical Christians’ noteworthy political mobilizations against Obama in recent Presidential elections. In addition to Evangelical identity, we examine the potential mediating impact of racial attitudes on Evangelical identity and “othering”. To test our hypotheses we use ordinal logistic regression and draw on data from the 2007-2008 Cooperative Campaign Analysis Project (CCAP)--a national Internet panel survey of registered U.S voters, administered in six waves, during the months leading up to, and immediately following, the 2008 Presidential election (December 2007-November 2008). The sample includes all white respondents for whom complete data on the measures used in this study are available (N = 1,797). The findings reveal that white Evangelical identity is indeed associated with “othering” Obama. What is more, racial resentment significantly mediates the relationship between white Evangelical identity and “othering.” Despite arguments attributing white Evangelicals’ boundary making to biblical fundamentalism, our findings are consistent with extant research indicating that white Evangelicals often distinguish themselves from out-groups through a process of drawing racial, religious, and political boundaries. This study also makes some initial inroads for considering the underlying mechanisms that operate between white Evangelicalism and racial attitudes.

Authors

• Brittany Rawlinson, Florida State University

• Daniel Tope, Florida State University

• Amy M. Burdette, Florida State University