Black Women: Keepers of Democracy, the Democratic Process, and the Democratic Party

Abstract

Black women are often heralded as the keepers of the Democratic Party and in the era of the Trump Administration, Black women are also often lauded as the keepers of democracy. This paper investigates the extent to which Black female partisanship affects amounts of participation, and perceptions of the importance of voting relative to other activities. By comparing participation rates of Black women to Black men, white women, and women of color, we argue that the greater rates of Black female participation have less to do with the strength of their partisan identification and more to do with a sense of efficacy, civic duty, and urgency. Using the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post Election Survey and 2016 ANES data, we show that the increasing strength of Black female Democratic Party identification has less to do with outreach by the party and feelings of attachment to the party and more to do with the sense of urgency in protecting the policy positions, political interests, combating discrimination and voter suppression in the U.S.

Keywords: Race, Gender, American Politics, Intersectionality