Yale Prof: Democrats' focus on race hurts them in the polls

The paper found 'no evidence that Americans are persuaded' by 'race' and 'class plus race' policy frames.

Class-based framing is just as popular as race-based framing among Black Americans, the research concluded.

Yale University researchers discovered that by framing their agenda through a racial lens, Democrats hurt their policies’ popularity among voters.  

In a recent paper, Yale Assistant Professor Joshua Kalla and PhD student Micah English find that “despite leftward shifts in public attitudes towards issues of racial equality, racial framing decreases support for race-neutral progressive policies.”

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The professors state that although most white Americans “agree with the general principles of racial equality,” a large body of research finds that “white Americans remain reluctant to endorse policies that are designed to actually achieve racial equality.” The results ultimately show that despite the increased messaging for racial justice by Democratic leadership, the researchers “find no evidence that Americans are persuaded” by “race” and “class plus race” frames.

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The paper finds that “linking public policies to race is detrimental for support of those policies.” Meanwhile, the results “showed that Black Americans were just as swayed by the class frame as they were the race frame.”

“Democrats’ use of racial frames in describing their progressive policies may inadvertently make it harder for them to adopt public policies that will advance racial justice,” English and Kalla concluded. 

Campus Reform reached out to English and Kalla for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.

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