Obama's Race

by Tesler, Michael; Sears, David O.

• ISBN13: 9780226793832
• ISBN10: 0226793834
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Barack Obama's presidential victory naturally led people to believe that the United States might finally be moving into a post-racial era.Obama's Raceand its eye-opening account of the role played by race in the electionpaints a dramatically different picture. The authors argue that the 2008 election was more polarized by racial attitudes than any other presidential election on recordand perhaps more significantly, that there were two sides to this racialization: resentful oppositiontoand racially liberal supportforObama. As Obama's campaign was given a boost in the primaries from racial liberals that extended well beyond that usually offered to ideologically similar white candidates, Hillary Clinton lost much of her longstanding support and instead became the preferred candidate of Democratic racial conservatives. Time and again, voters' racial predispositions trumped their ideological preferences as John McCainseldom described as conservative in matters of racebecame the darling of racial conservatives from both parties. Hard-hitting and sure to be controversial,Obama's Racewill be both praised and criticizedbut certainly not ignored.

Author Biography

Michael Tesler is a PhD candidate in political science at University of California, Los Angeles. This is his first book. David O. Sears is distinguished professor of psychology and political science at UCLA and the author of numerous books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction Obama as Post-Racial?	p. 1
Background Race in Presidential Elections	p. 11
Racialized Momentum The Two Sides of Racialization in the Primaries	p. 29
The General Election The Two Sides of Racialization and Short-Term Political Dynamics	p. 52
The Spillover of Racialization	p. 75
The Racialized Voting Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Minorities	p. 94
The Paradox of Gender Traditionalists' Support for Hillary Clinton	p. 115
Beyond Black and White Obama as ôOtherö	p. 127
Is the Obama Presidency Post-Racial? Evidence from His First Year in Office	p. 142
Appendix	p. 161
Notes	p. 169
References	p. 185
Index	p. 197
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