How does racial distancing work? Racial distancing helps black politicians and white Democratic politicians disrupt the stereotype that they’re beholden to racial and ethnic minorities. For white Republican politicians, racial distancing helps reinforce their reputation for keeping the racial hierarchy intact. Racial distancing was particularly effective at galvanizing support from whites with anti-black attitudes. For example, in an April 2018 YouGov survey experiment, I had 300 white Americans read a paragraph online about a fictional white Democratic politician.

Source: Washington Post July 02, 2019 11:03 UTC