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Is Voting a Behavior or an Identity?
Perhaps we got it all wrong.
Since 1964, black voters migrated to the Democrat Party and never looked back. At this point, they support Democratic presidential candidates at rates anywhere between 90-94%. Why?
One approach is to say that black voters are on the Democratic plantation and are unwilling to consider alternatives for a variety of unflattering reasons. I’m with Kevin Williamson in not buying this argument and being a bit repulsed by its condescension. Plus, it’s a bit counter-productive to persuade people to agree with you after you tell them they’ve been duped all along.
However, I’m not with Williamson when he says it’s simply because they prefer the policies of the Democrats to Republicans. Here, we know that blacks are not monolithic in their views, even though they’re monolithic in their voting behavior. I think of the many blacks I know who are religious and very much conservative in their views about economics and welfare, among other issues. Even though they agree with Republicans when it comes to their most deeply held convictions, they still vote for Democrats who disagree with them. But, as a researcher, I know that correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation.
To bring it back to my opening point, maybe we’ve been going about it the wrong way. As I think about the black voters I know of, it’s apparent to me that voting Democrat is the default option. When everyone you know votes Democrat, it’s only natural that you will also act accordingly, and I’ve heard people tell me as much. So, to me, while black voters may have gone to the Democrats for historical reasons back in the ’60s/’70s, today I think it’s mainly inertia. But it’s so strong that it seems to be more of an attribute than a behavior. That is, Democrat is who we are rather than how we vote. It’s like one’s ethnicity or religion.
What I like about this hypothesis is that it is simple, elegant, and yet explanatory. It explains cognitive dissonance that so many black voters are in when they support candidates who push an agenda they do not believe in at all. I think it also shows that discussions about what the GOP can do to win over black voters are usually exercises in vanity. It’s far too convenient to say the GOP repels black voters when they have no real interest in considering supporting the party.
Now, I should be clear that I’m not arguing the GOP should write-off black voters. I’m a good enough student of politics to know that no trend is ever permanent. It’s possible that black voters will become more polarized than they are now but I don’t know how that will happen, or when. But thinking of black voting as an attribute rather than a behavior can possibly help the GOP figure out ideas to increase their support or, at the very least, eliminate bad ideas that won’t work.
Published in Politics
If only we could identify as voters instead of R/D, to think of our votes as something valuable to bestow to the most deserving instead of something we owe in fealty.
While I certainly don’t disagree, I do understand not wanting to go where one isn’t wanted. Any attempt to GOP at an MLK parade is going to be met with mockery and worse by POC and the MSM. So any of ‘ours’ who show up are risking likely bad press for unlikely votes.
I’m not sure how my friend’s example fits the question – which did he change?
My friend grew up in the Southern Baptist church. After college, he switched to the Episcopal Church and was very critical (and rather condescending) about Baptist’s, Baptist theology, and Baptist practices. But here’s the thing; whenever he discussed (argued) theology with anyone, although he presented himself as arguing for his new denomination, all of his positions were argued from the Baptist point of view. He even sometimes used typical Baptist phraseology.
It wasn’t obvious to him because it was so ingrained from his upbringing that he thought of it as “just truth.” To me, who grew up in the Episcopal Church, it was pretty glaring.
It was sort of like a convert to strict Presbyterian predestination who keeps inserting the term “free will” into every discussion.
Was this identity or behavior?
Does this remind you of behavior among some people going on in politics today? Perhaps the person of whom you speak merely had an unexplained animus that caused the change in denomination.
Well, from time to time, I suspected that the change might have been because he decided that Baptists were “tacky” and Episcopalians were “cooler.”
Beats conversion by the sword I guess….
There is (as the Bible and FFs would remind us) a human tendency, perhaps even a need? to make ordinary men (with some power, charisma, money, whatever) into gods. Perhaps it is because there is pleasure in the sensations of worship and comfort in the anticipation of salvation even if it never materializes? The worshipper will avoid or even fight recognition of the big clay toes poking out from under the robe, because he doesn’t want the pleasure and comfort to end. Disappointment and disillusionment are (let me tell ya!) painful by contrast.
Yeah, and there is the heart of the problem. Kelile’s point is that identity voters aren’t simply voting to communicate some identity to others, but because there is a profound, internal emotional sense of who they are that is driving them.
Sorry for the late reply. I don’t think it’ll help that much because I think the barrier is higher and wider than a demonstration of the evidence can overcome. That doesn’t mean they don’t see a problem, and even attribute blame to Democrats. The problem is how they look at the range of possible solutions. What will it take to consider voting for a real alternative, not another Democrat, no matter how moderate he/she might be.
Maybe something is happening. Fleccas reports from Newark: