‘Anti-racist’ messages and policies hurt Democrats: Yale study

The study, done by Micah English and Joshua L. Kalla, wanted to see "how racial attitudes shape policy preferences in the era of Black Lives Matter and increasing liberal views on racial issues".

The Yale students tested this by "examin[ing] the effect of describing an ostensibly race-neutral progressive policy with racial framing, as used by Democratic elites, on support for that policy".

They found that "despite leftward shifts in public attitudes towards issues of racial equality, racial framing decreases support for race-neutral progressive policies".

These findings are not surprising. Earlier this year, VOX reporter Jerusalem Dumas found, using Data for Progress polls, that "describing measures to permit more housing construction as a way to reduce segregation and promote racial justice made respondents much less likely to support them".

According to New York Magazine's Intelligencer, the Democratic Party has gone through two race-focused shifts since 2008. The first began when Barack Obama was elected; the backlash he faced from Republicans showed White liberals just "how deeply racial resentment inspired American conservatism". Thus began the White liberals' quest to right racial wrongs.

The second shift came in 2016, when Democrats stopped hiding the fact that their policies were intended to 'help' minorities and instead began emphasizing that fact. Policies that had long been neutral soon became explicitly 'anti-racist', in hopes of attracting support from the aforementioned White liberals.

As studies are finding, however, this recent shift has cost the Democrats, as their policies become associated with not only anti-racist themes, but critical race theory. Voters who don't want race to infiltrate every aspect of their lives are distancing themselves from the party, which is not good news for Democrats.

The findings show that not everyone responds positively to anti-racist rhetoric; voters want unity, not more reasons to feel divided. Whether Democrats will listen to the data is yet to be seen.