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22 ReferencesThe threat of increasing diversity: Why many White Americans support Trump in the 2016 presidential election
Abstract
What accounts for the widespread support for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential race? This experiment demonstrates that the changing racial demographics of America contribute to Trump’s success as a presidential candidate among White Americans whose race/ethnicity is central to their identity. Reminding White Americans high in ethnic identification that non-White racial groups will outnumber Whites in the United States by 2042 caused them to become more concerned about the declining status and influence of White Americans as a group (i.e., experience group status threat), and caused them to report increased support for Trump and anti-immigrant policies, as well as greater opposition to political correctness. Increased group status threat mediated the effects of the racial shift condition on candidate support, anti-immigrant policy support, and opposition to political correctness. Among Whites low in ethnic identification, in contrast, the racial shift condition had no effect on group status threat or support for anti-immigrant policies, but did cause decreased positivity toward Trump and decreased opposition to political correctness. Group status threat did not mediate these effects. Reminders of the changing racial demographics had comparable effects for Democrats and Republicans. Results illustrate the importance of changing racial demographics and White ethnic identification in voter preferences and how social psychological theory can illuminate voter preferences.
- ... Fourth, the Trump and Brexit campaigns were reported to stir up racial tensions with regard to migration (e.g., Major, Blodorn, & Blascovich, 2016) and racial composition of the population can predict voting behavior (e.g. Rentfrow et al., 2015;Autor et al., 2015). ...
- ... Racial and ethnic hate crimes made up over 59% of the attacks within the first month of Trump's election (SPLC 2016). Recent research has shown that negative attitudes toward immigrants drive support for Donald Trump and his xenophobic rhetoric (Major, Blodorn, and Blascovich 2016). It makes sense, then, that courses in or about race and ethnic studies are the most affected. ...
- ... The researchers found that compared to White Canadians exposed to projections in which they were still a numerical majority, participants who viewed projections where White Canadians were a numerical minority expressed more anger and fear toward racial minorities, and greater intergroup threat. In the U.S., reminding White Americans about future declines in their relative group size is associated with greater anti-immigrant attitudes ( Major et al., 2016) and greater explicit and implicit prejudice toward racial minorities ( Craig and Richeson, 2014). These negative psychological reactions suggest that majority group members use relative group size to make inferences about their group's standing in society. ...
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The United States is undergoing a demographic shift in which White Americans are predicted to comprise less than 50% of the US population by mid-century. The present research examines how exposure to information about this racial shift affects perceptions of the extent to which different racial groups face discrimination. In four experiments, making the growing national racial diversity... [Show full abstract]
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Although White Americans experience less frequent and less severe forms of discrimination than ethnic minorities (Schmitt & Branscombe, 2002), White Americans may actually be more likely to claim discrimination compared to ethnic minorities (Goldman, 2001). The present research investigated evaluations of White and Black American discrimination claimants' political views and prejudicial... [Show full abstract]
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