Study: Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when person black

[Brubear]

Link to study article is discussing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzC...hQSW0tVDQ/view

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/...porters-racist

All it takes to reduce support for housing assistance among Donald Trump supporters is exposure to an image of a black man.

That’s the takeaway from a new study by researchers Matthew Luttig, Christopher Federico, and Howard Lavine, set to be published in Research & Politics. In a randomized survey experiment, the trio of researchers exposed respondents to images of either a white or black man. They found that when exposed to the image of a black man, white Trump supporters were less likely to back a federal mortgage aid program. Favorability toward Trump was a key measure for how strong this effect was.

The study is just the latest to show that racial attitudes are a powerful predictor for support for Trump — and the newest to suggest that such attitudes play a major role in Americans’ views toward public policy. Previous studies have found that racial resentment was a much stronger indicator of support for Trump than views about the economy. And other research has shown that priming people to think about race can make them more conservative on a host of issues.

This latest study is notable, though, because all it uses is an image of a black man to produce its results. That suggests that Trump has a powerful incentive to get people to keep thinking about race: If his most ardent supporters just need a slight racial cue to come around to his conservative policy views, then Trump simply has to bring up race to get his supporters fired up for him.

What the study found
For the study, researchers deployed a survey experiment, sampling more than 700 white people on their support housing assistance programs. (The researchers only used data from white respondents because support among minority groups for Trump was too low to be statistically reliable.) But there was a twist: Respondents were randomly assigned “a subtle image of either a black or a white man.”

The two images used in the study: one of a white man in front of a foreclosure sign, and another of a black man in front of the same sign.
They found that the image of a black man greatly impacted responses among Trump supporters. After they were exposed to the black racial cue, they were not only less supportive of housing assistance programs, but they also expressed higher levels of anger that some people receive government assistance and were more likely to say that individuals who receive assistance are to blame for their situation.

All of these findings were heightened with greater favorability for Trump. In fact, there was an opposite effect among respondents who reported the least favorability toward Trump: They were less likely to oppose housing assistance, get angry at the program, or blame the recipients of such programs for their situation when exposed to the black racial cue compared to the white racial cue. (Luttig told me that this is likely a result of racial progressives viewing black people as disadvantaged in America due to structural racism, therefore requiring more aid.)

In contrast, favorability toward Clinton did not significantly change respondents’ views on any of these issues when primed with racial cues.

The researchers concluded, “These findings indicate that responses to the racial cue varied as a function of feelings about Donald Trump — but not feelings about Hillary Clinton — during the 2016 presidential election.”

A chart showing greater support for Trump led to more opposition for housing assistance programs, among other issues.
The researchers, which generally controlled for a host of socioeconomic and demographic variables, also tested to see whether measures of polarization or ideology changed the findings. They found little to no effect.

“Support for Donald Trump — not partisanship or ideology — uniquely captures distinct reactions to our experimental manipulation of race,” they conclude. “That is, support for Donald Trump appears to serve as a basis for polarized responses to racial cues in its own regard.”

One caveat to the study: It’s not clear if the results are reflective of higher support due to a white racial cue or lower support due to the black racial cue. It’s possible that it’s not that Trump supporters are made less likely to support housing assistance when exposed to the image of a black man, but that they are made more likely to support housing assistance when exposed to the image of a white man. The researchers said that they will need further study to clarify this, along with questions of how racial cues affect views on other policy issues among Trump supporters.

Still, the study is not the first of its kind to produce these kinds of findings. Time and time again, researchers have found that racial attitudes play a major role in support for Trump and US politics more broadly.

A lot of studies show racial attitudes are a big deal in US politics
The most straightforward research in this area looks at how views on race influenced support for Trump.

One paper, published in January by political scientists Brian Schaffner, Matthew MacWilliams, and Tatishe Nteta, found that voters’ measures of sexism and racism correlated much more closely with support for Trump than economic dissatisfaction after controlling for factors like partisanship and political ideology.


And one telling study, conducted by researchers Brenda Major, Alison Blodorn, and Gregory Major Blascovich shortly before the election, found that if people who strongly identified as white were told that nonwhite groups will outnumber white people in 2042, they became more likely to support Trump. That suggested that there’s a big racial element to support for Trump.

Along similar lines, there’s research, previously covered by Dylan Matthews for Vox, that looks at how priming people to think of race can change their policy views.

In one study, Harvard political scientist Ryan Enos had Spanish-speaking Latino men ride commuter trains in Boston. He surveyed other riders before and after they were exposed to the Latino men to see how it changed their views on immigration, while using surveys of those who were never exposed to the Latino men as a control.

“The results were clear,” Enos wrote in the Washington Post. “After coming into contact, for just minutes each day, with two more Latinos than they would otherwise see or interact with, the riders, who were mostly white and liberal, were sharply more opposed to allowing more immigrants into the country and favored returning the children of illegal immigrants to their parents’ home country. It was a stark shift from their pre-experiment interviews, during which they expressed more neutral attitudes.”

There’s yet another line of research that’s suggestive on this.

As researchers Sean McElwee and Jason McDaniel explained for Vox, racial attitudes are a very strong predictor for beliefs about government spending. “For decades, social scientists have found that attitudes about race, particularly toward African Americans, persistently impact political attitudes and opinions toward government services, spending, and welfare,” they wrote.

McElwee and McDaniel measured racial resentment, economic peril, and support for more government spending. They found that higher measured racial resentment correlated with a preference for decreased government spending and services, while more economic insecurity appeared to correlate — but not at a statistically significant level — with more support for increased government spending.

Government services vs. government spending tradeoffs when layered with economic peril and racial resentment
Similarly, other studies have linked greater racial resentment to more support for “tough on crime” policies.

In short, racial attitudes are a powerful predictor for a host of political issues, and racial priming can push people in a more conservative direction. That just so happens to be beneficial for Trump, whose policy agenda is built largely on cracking down on immigration, bringing back “tough on crime” policies, and cutting taxes for the rich and services to the poor.

So with all his racist comments on the campaign trail, Trump not only pandered to his biggest fans, but likely got more people to think in a direction that favored his agenda.

Found this to be rather interesting. Going to read through the actual study when I have time, but reading over the conclusion it seems that it really is the person being black that's the deciding factor for Trump voters on whether a person is deserving of housing assistance.

[Theodarzna]

Link to study article is discussing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzC...hQSW0tVDQ/view

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/...porters-racist


Found this to be rather interesting. Going to read through the actual study when I have time, but reading over the conclusion it seems that it really is the person being black that's the deciding factor for Trump voters on whether a person is deserving of housing assistance.

On a psychological level, I think the reaction is primal, people might be displeased to think their tax money might go to a perceived enemy.

[oxymoronic]

if anything this is a response to the attack on white males i've witnessed in this country in the last 5 years or so. when did it become so fashionable to hate old rich white men? its like the coolest thing right now.

[Wyrt]

Trump fans are racists? Well, I am just shocked. Shocked I tell you.

[BeakerPD]

On a psychological level, I think the reaction is primal, people might be displeased to think their tax money might go to a perceived enemy.

I don't think it is necessarily an "enemy", but from a tribe like mindset, seeing someone who doesn't look like you makes it clear they are not of your "tribe".

I agree with you though.

[Cthulhu 2020]

if anything this is a response to the attack on white males i've witnessed in this country in the last 5 years or so. when did it become so fashionable to hate old rich white men? its like the coolest thing right now.

Guess who started hating minorities first, and denied them things like loans, houses, etc. merely because of their race?

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I don't think it is necessarily an "enemy", but from a tribe like mindset, seeing someone who doesn't look like you makes it clear they are not of your "tribe".

I agree with you though.

Basal level tribalism is found in most conservatives, so nobody need be all that surprised about this "revelation".

Us vs them may as well have been Trump's campaign slogan. It's something history has shown us. The basal instincts of certain people take ahold of them, and they start seeing their own countrymen as enemies rather than someone with a different view of things. They view them as a danger. Those parties are either defeated, or they became dictators who are then ultimately defeated.

They're on the wrong side of history, always have been, and that will become apparent sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

[Grapemask]

In other news, water is wet and the sky is blue!

But I'm really just here to wait for some supporters to rationalize these findings as rational behavior, or to erupt in furious anger towards the study and perhaps its contributing authors. Can never tell which way it'll go.

[Sormine]

On a psychological level, I think the reaction is primal, people might be displeased to think their tax money might go to a perceived enemy.

So like, subconscious racism?

[Thepersona]

So like, subconscious racism?

Tribalism is a form of racism. It's still stupid as hell

[Cthulhu 2020]

In other news, water is wet and the sky is blue!

But I'm really just here to wait for some supporters to rationalize these findings as rational behavior, or to erupt in furious anger towards the study and perhaps its contributing authors. Can never tell which way it'll go.

An expected response:

"Well black people are more likely to be lazy when receiving housing assistance and want to stay on it, where white people just need temporary help!"

But it'll probably be much more subtle. It'll still have the same meaning though.

[Theodarzna]

So like, subconscious racism?

Generally I think any community of people that see themselves as "Us" resents their resources being appropriated for any group that is "Them". It's not really Racism since it isn't an ideological assertion of supremacy but more an unwillingness to help "the Other." More of an embedded prejudice.

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I don't think it is necessarily an "enemy", but from a tribe like mindset, seeing someone who doesn't look like you makes it clear they are not of your "tribe".

I agree with you though.

Eh, I think Black America and White America are distinct groups, that often have an antagonistic relationship. Whatever the origins of these sentiments, White Working Class Americans constitute a group that really see's black people as "Other" and Black people likewise see those WWC folk as "the Other." Both see one another as the "enemy." Especially when a cop seemingly gets trigger happy with Black youth and then gets away with it, or other abuses the black community usually endures when dealing with institutions in power over them.

[Sormine]

Generally I think any community of people that see themselves as "Us" resents their resources being appropriated for any group that is "Them". It's not really Racism since it isn't an ideological assertion of supremacy but more an unwillingness to help "the Other." More of an embedded prejudice.

This sounds more like a desperate attempt to put a different name on it. Although generally whenever people use tribalism to explain racist tendencies, it always feels that way to myself.

[Theodarzna]

This sounds more like a desperate attempt to put a different name on it. Although generally whenever people use tribalism to explain racist tendencies, it always feels that way to myself.

Not necessarily. Racism is just that, an -ism. An ideological belief, or a held belief. I tend to put things that are subconscious or internal bias in the realm of prejudices. Those individuals may not hold an explicit view on Black people or an ideological position on black people, unless they are Alt-Right ofcourse.

[Doctor Amadeus]

This sounds more like a desperate attempt to put a different name on it. Although generally whenever people use tribalism to explain racist tendencies, it always feels that way to myself.

Wow spot on bullseye, Yeah pretty much, kind of like how some people use Urban, or Ethnic, or Those people.

[Toppy]

I wonder what would happen if they did this with say, showing a black person? Or even more none-Trump supporters.

I mean I get it, Trump supporters are racist, we all know that. But from what we know of this study its horribly biased. It set out to prove a point and lo and behold, its point is proven because they took careful control of who they showed this stuff to.

[Felya]

Living in the projects helped my family get on our feet when we first came to US. I cannot help but see it as a good thing.

[Theodarzna]

I wonder what would happen if they did this with say, showing a black person? Or even more none-Trump supporters.

I mean I get it, Trump supporters are racist, we all know that. But from what we know of this study its horribly biased. It set out to prove a point and lo and behold, its point is proven because they took careful control of who they showed this stuff to.

I think an illuminating study might be to also do the inverse, or switch it up. Do Black People like their money going to White Appalachians for example? Or various Hispanic groups to Black People? Or Asians to Black People? Asians to Whites? Jews to Black people? Black people to Jews?

[Mormolyce]

What an unexpected correlation they've discovered.

when did it become so fashionable to hate old rich white men?

Um, it seems to have started at about the same time as recorded history.

[Grapemask]

I wonder what would happen if they did this with say, showing a black person? Or even more none-Trump supporters.

I think an illuminating study might be to also do the inverse, or switch it up. Do Black People like their money going to White Appalachians for example? Or various Hispanic groups to Black People? Or Asians to Black People? Asians to Whites? Jews to Black people? Black people to Jews?

Not really that interesting of a study. I think many (non-white supremacist) folks would be hesitant to even do such a study, because there would be even more politics surrounding it than this - and more importantly, most researchers are aware that the internet has made everything in a study but the headline irrelevant, and so the conclusions they write would go ignored.

Namely, minorities have a reason to distrust whites. Not only have whites not been terribly kind to them in the past (enslavement, holocausts, general oppression), but even right now minority oppression and discriminstion is still verifiably alive, well, and in wide circulation.

So sure, it would be a study about something, but racism might not exactly be the right term.

[Toppy]

Not really that interesting of a study. I think many (non-white supremacist) folks would be hesitant to even do such a study, because there would be even more politics surrounding it than this - and more importantly, most researchers are aware that the internet has made everything in a study but the headline irrelevant, and so the conclusions they write would go ignored.

Namely, minorities have a reason to distrust whites. Not only have whites not been terribly kind to them in the past (enslavement, holocausts, general oppression), but even right now minority oppression and discriminstion is still verifiably alive, well, and in wide circulation.

So sure, it would be a study about something, but racism might not exactly be the right term.

My point was more so that this study itself, based on what we're told about it, is rather flawed and goes a long way towards saying nothing.