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United States: Racial Resentment, Negative Partisanship, and Polarization in Trump’s America

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  • Alan Abramowitz
  • Jennifer McCoy

Abstract

Growing racial, ideological, and cultural polarization within the American electorate contributed to the shocking victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Using data from American National Election Studies surveys, we show that Trump’s unusually explicit appeals to racial and ethnic resentment attracted strong support from white working-class voters while repelling many college-educated whites along with the overwhelming majority of nonwhite voters. However, Trump’s campaign exploited divisions that have been growing within the electorate for decades because of demographic and cultural changes in American society. The 2016 presidential campaign also reinforced another longstanding trend in American electoral politics: the rise of negative partisanship, that is voting based on hostility toward the opposing party and its leaders. We conclude with a discussion of the consequences of deepening partisan and affective polarization for American democracy and the perceptions by both experts and the public of an erosion in its quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Abramowitz & Jennifer McCoy, 2019. "United States: Racial Resentment, Negative Partisanship, and Polarization in Trump’s America," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 681(1), pages 137-156, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:681:y:2019:i:1:p:137-156
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716218811309
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Nägel, Christof & Nivette, Amy, 2023. "The Rodney King incident and verdict revisited: Examining opinion-mobilizing effects using data from Southern California in 1991 and 1992," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Andrea Pettrachin & Leila Hadj Abdou, 2024. "Beyond evidence-based policymaking? Exploring knowledge formation and source effects in US migration policymaking," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 57(1), pages 3-28, March.
    4. Francisco Bastida, 2023. "Political economics and citizens’ engagement in Croatia: a differential analysis," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 47(1), pages 41-70.
    5. Maxime Walder & Oliver Strijbis, 2022. "Negative Party Identification and the Use of Party Cues in the Direct Democratic Context," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 325-335.
    6. Pérez-Martínez, H. & Bauzá Mingueza, F. & Soriano-Paños, D. & Gómez-Gardeñes, J. & Floría, L.M., 2023. "Polarized opinion states in static networks driven by limited information horizons," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P1).
    7. Aziz Z. Huq, 2022. "The Supreme Court and the Dynamics of Democratic Backsliding," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 699(1), pages 50-65, January.

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