13:10 - 14:50
P8-S200
Room: 0A.04
Chair/s:
Rachel M Blum
Discussant/s:
Ala Alrababah
Does Race Trump Ethnicity in America? A Test of the Black Immigrant Invisibility Hypothesis
P8-S200-1
Presented by: Leann Mclaren
Leann Mclaren
The Johns Hopkins University
How may candidates with invisible identities use their identities in campaigns in America? Are these strategies effective amongst racial in-group and out-group voters? Black politicians’ racial identities are generally visible, but not all parts of a candidate’s identity are always apparent. In this manuscript, I argue that Black immigrant politicians represent a case of candidates with invisible identities that are not phenotypically prominent but are politically meaningful in campaigns. Black immigrant candidates may benefit from strategically leveraging their immigrant identity in campaigns. I present two survey experiments varying the extent to which they reveal their invisible identities as immigrants. I test the effects of this strategy on candidate support among Black and white Americans. I find that for both white and Black Americans, race trumps the effects of ethnicity. Black Americans will still support the Black immigrant candidate regardless of whether he emphasizes his immigrant identity. White Americans also do not shift support based on whether it is apparent that the Black candidate is an immigrant. These results may explain how Black voters perceived and felt motivated to vote for Kamala Harris, a Black woman who ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States and who is also the daughter of immigrants.
Keywords: American politics, Race and ethnicity, Representation, Campaign Strategy, Immigration, Black American Politics, Identity Politics

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