How Peer Pressure Affects Voting

The political scientists Chryl Laird and Ismail White used a creative strategy several years ago to study the voting patterns of Black Americans. Laird and White took advantage of the fact that some surveys are conducted through in-person interviews — and keep track of the interviewer’s race — while other surveys are done online.

In the online surveys that Laird and White examined, about 85 percent of Black respondents identified as Democrats. The share was almost identical during in-person surveys done by non-Black interviewers. But when Black interviewers conducted in-person surveys, more than 95 percent of Black respondents identified as Democrats.

It is a fascinating pattern: Something about talking with a person of the same race makes Black Americans more likely to say they are Democrats. As Laird and White concluded, voting for Democrats has been a behavioral norm in Black communities. People feel social pressure from their neighbors, relatives and friends to support the Democratic Party.

Similar social pressure exists in other communities, of course. A liberal who attends a white evangelical Southern church — or a conservative who lives in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood — knows the feeling. And Laird and White emphasized in their 2020 book, “Steadfast Democrats,” that Black Americans have behaved rationally by sticking together. It has allowed them to assert political influence despite being a minority group. Consider that President Biden’s vice president and his only Supreme Court pick are both Black.

Still, the political unity of Black Americans is surprising in some ways. “Although committed to the Democratic Party, African Americans are actually one of the most conservative blocs of Democratic supporters,” White and Laird wrote.

One important thing about behavioral norms, though, is that they can change. If voting Republican becomes more acceptable in Black communities, the number of moderate and conservative Black Americans who do so could rise quickly.

Ideology vs. identity

This newsletter is the second in a two-part series on the recent rightward shift of Black, Asian and Hispanic voters. Today, I want to look at possible explanations.

The first is the social dynamic that White and Laird described. It also applies to Asian and Hispanic voters. Across minority groups, voting Republican recently seems to have become more acceptable.

“Nonwhite Americans who previously may have voted Democrat for identity-based reasons are increasingly likely to vote more sincerely according to their conservative ideology,” Emily West, a political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, told Thomas Edsall of Times Opinion.

The second explanation is that today’s Democratic Party is out of step with the views of many voters of color, especially working-class voters. On some issues, the problem fits a simple right-left framing: Democrats are to the left of most voters.

Even when elected Democrats are more moderate, the party’s image is shaped by highly educated progressives who have an outsize voice because they dominate higher education, the entertainment industry and parts of the media and nonprofit sectors. It’s worth remembering, as the Pew Research Center has reported, that the most liberal slice of Americans is disproportionately white:

Voters of color are often more moderate. They are more religious on average than progressive Democrats. Most voters of color favor tighter border security. Many support expansions of charter schools or vouchers. Many favor both police reform and more policing. Many support civil rights for trans Americans — but not allowing all athletes to choose whether they participate in female or male sports.

Racial minorities, as Marc Hetherington of the University of North Carolina told Thomas Edsall, “are much more tradition-minded and authority-minded” than white Democrats.

Other political issues are more nuanced than a right-left framing. Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California, has suggested that voters of color may be frustrated with his party’s lack of a bold economic vision, and that’s plausible. Many working-class voters lean to the right on social issues and to the left on economic issues (but not so far left as to be intrigued by socialism). They favor a higher minimum wage, trade restrictions and expanded government health insurance.

Biden favors these policies, too. But Democrats have come to be seen as the party of the establishment, my colleague Nate Cohn notes. Many working-class voters see Democrats as socially liberal defenders of the status quo. Republicans, especially Donald Trump, increasingly seem to represent change, as ill-defined as that change may be.

Political diversity

My list here isn’t exhaustive. (Here is Nate’s list.) Some voters of color, like white voters, also seem frustrated by recent price increases and worried about Biden’s age. And voters of color are obviously a politically diverse group, who include many liberals and who have a wide array of views.

But that’s the point. Many Democrats have imagined people of color to be a uniform, loyal, progressive group, defined by their race. They are not. The party will have a better chance to win their votes if it spends more time listening to what these voters believe.

• This year, Republican Senate nominees are very rich. The party sought candidates who could finance their own campaigns to counter Democrats’ fund-raising advantage.

• Electric vehicles are central to Biden’s strategy to combat climate change. Trump has escalated his criticism of the cars.

• Trump’s new fund-raising deal with the Republican National Committee ensures that donations first go to the PAC that pays his legal bills before going to the party.

• No Labels, the centrist group that has pledged to run a third-party presidential campaign, has failed to recruit a candidate. Deadlines to appear on state ballots are approaching.

• Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who faces federal bribery charges, said he wouldn’t seek re-election as a Democrat. He left open the possibility of running as an independent.

More on Politics

• Congress aims to pass a bill today to fund the government through September. Without an agreement, a partial government shutdown will begin at midnight.

• Sixteen Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over its decision to stop approving permits for new natural gas terminals.

• Shortly before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Trump told Mike Pence that certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory would be “a political career killer,” according to an aide.

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Growing support for the Republican Party among racial minorities could be a good thing for American politics, David French writes.

The United States and the press should do everything in their power to win the release of the two American journalists in Russian prison, the Times editorial board writes.

For Republicans, the key to winning the Senate is to make sure Trump feels appreciated. So far, it’s working, Michelle Cottle writes.

Here is a column by Paul Krugman on why Ohio voters like Trump.

For the birds: Some parrot owners have turned to children’s mobile games to keep the pets engaged.

Ghost Army: A special group of American troops waged psychological war on the Germans in World War II. Only a few survive.

Lawsuit: The National Park Service is trying to go cashless in some locations. Visitors who want to be off the grid have objected.

Today’s Great Read: He was arguably the world’s most famous psychedelic researcher. Was he a true believer?

Lives Lived: M. Emmet Walsh always made an impression, no matter how small the part, as a character actor in films like “Blade Runner” and “Knives Out.” He died at 88.

SPORTS

N.C.A.A. tournament: Oakland, a No. 14 seed, beat No. 3 seed Kentucky. Oakland’s Jack Gohlke hit 10 3-pointers (and attempted no 2-pointers).

More upsets: Three No. 11 seeds — Duquesne, N.C. State and Oregon — also took down higher-seeded opponents. Read more about the upsets.

Busted brackets: A total of 2,400 Morning readers entered our men’s tournament pool. After one day, no perfect brackets remain.

M.L.B.: Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers refused to comment a day after a betting scandal involving the player’s former translator.

Basketball: The G League Ignite — once an innovative path for high school prospects to reach the N.B.A. — will shut down after this season.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Affordable beauty: California’s Monterey Peninsula connotes wealth, with exclusive spots like the Pebble Beach golf courses and towns like Carmel-by-the-Sea. But it is possible to enjoy the beautiful seaside area without depleting your bank account, writes Elaine Glusac, The Times’s Frugal Traveler columnist.

She suggests visiting in winter — “a quiet and thrifty time of year” — and enjoying parks and preserves. You can find unsung hotels in the old part of Monterey, like the Hotel Abrego ($130 a night), with an easy walk to the lively downtown area. And splurge on the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is worth the $60 admission.

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