The Significance of Mixed-Race: Public Perceptions of Barack Obama’s Race and the Effect of Obama’s Race on Public Support for his Presidency

The Significance of Mixed-Race: Public Perceptions of Barack Obama’s Race and the Effect of Obama’s Race on Public Support for his Presidency

Social Science Research Network
Working Paper Series
2011-08-15
55 pages
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1910209

Samuel Sinyangwe
Stanford University

This research paper seeks to understand white, black, and mixed-race Americans’ perceptions of President Barack Obama’s racial identity and the influence that those perceptions have on patterns of public support for the President. Some have proposed that the American racial hierarchy is becoming more stratified and complex, with mixed-race Americans rising to a higher, “honorary white” racial stratum with greater socioeconomic and political privileges than they have had in the past. These claims are partially supported by this research. Contrary to those who still conceptualize race in terms of black and white, this research establishes that a majority of whites and mixed-race Americans, and a third of blacks, likely conceptualize the racially ambiguous President Barack Obama as distinctly “mixed-race.” I argue that Americans distinguish Obama as “mixed-race” for a purpose. Whites, blacks, and mixed-race Americans identify Obama as “mixed-race” to express his perceived difference from black people, interests, and values. These distinctions have political significance: mixed-race Americans that are at least part black are more likely to both perceive and support a “mixed-race” Obama while blacks respond more favorably to a perceived “black” Obama.

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