Racism, Resentment, and Regionalism: The South and the Nation in the 2008 Presidential Election

Abstract

This paper assesses the influences racial resentment and racial stereotypes on Southern and non-Southern white, Asian, and Hispanic voters in the 2008 presidential election. I use logistic regression to test the hypotheses that racial resentment and racial stereotypes influenced support for McCain and that the influence of these two variables is greater in the South than in the non-South. The findings suggest that racial resentment’s influence extends across both regions but that the affects of racial stereotypes is confined to the South. The analysis is replicated for U.S. House elections in 2008, finding that the impact of racial resentment and racial stereotypes is insignificant in both regions. In 2008, the influences of racism, resentment and regionalism on voting are confined to the presidential level.