The Racial and Ethnic Composition of the American Right
摘要
This chapter explores the changing support for the Republican Party among ethnic and racial minorities. The 2020s have seen Republicans make modest but notable inroads among some minority electorates. This chapter unpacks these changes by identifying two explanations. One is due to how certain minorities are measured in polling and survey data. Because of the complexities of racial and ethnic identity in the United States, many Hispanic Americans identify as ‘white’ but are considered ‘non-white’ when reported in polling data. Yet, the category ‘Hispanic white’, this chapter argues, is politically relevant and may explain Republicans’ inroads in the Latino electorate. Racially white Hispanics are ‘fleeing’ from the Democratic Party, as other white voters have done in recent years. Second, this chapter argues that ideological polarization is driving some conservative ethnic and racial minorities out of the Democratic Party. The past few decades of US politics have seen a combination of partisan ‘sorting’ and polarization. There is some evidence that ideologically conservative Hispanics and Asians are now ‘sorting’ into the Republican Party, which may also help to explain the increased support for the Republicans among this electorate. Should conservative Black and Hispanic voters leave the Democratic Party, as conservative whites have done over the past few decades, the consequences for both parties would be considerable both in electoral terms and in their likely political agendas.