We use well-being data from the Gallup Daily Poll and a measure of racial animus derived from Google search data to explain why racial identification became politically salient in the 2016 Presidential Election. We find that the oft-observed positive relationship between racial animus and...

The presence of an African-American candidate on the ballot running for President in 2008 raises the possibility that the election outcome might have been influenced by anti-African-American racism among voters. This paper uses data from the Associated Press-Yahoo! News-Stanford University...

We show evidence of prejudiced voting in the 2008 presidential election. We then go deeper to test if black threat theory explains some of this behavior. The theory finds empirical support, especially in the south. We also show that black concentration in an area works interactively with the...

In recent years, the number of African Americans registering and actually voting in national elections has increased significantly. In some states, particularly in the South, the percentage of African Americans actually registered to vote has increased by more than 70 percent since the 1960's....

Estimates of voter turnout indicate that African Americans cast ballots at unprecedented rates in the 2008 presidential election. Given the presence of the first Black major party presidential nominee, this should be no surprise. But were heightened interest, efficacy, and a sense of racial...