Professor Christopher Sebastian Parker was published in POLITICO Magazine’s recent interactive article, which featured critical perspectives from ten of the top political thinkers in the US, days before the Iowa primary kicks off the 2020 Presidential election. Exploring the role of racism in voter mobilization, Parker discusses his findings from a 2018 paper, in which he found that Black voters who believe Donald Trump poses an “existential threat” to the country were more likely to turn out to vote in the 2018 midterm elections. Pointing then back to 2016, to his paper which found that white voters were motivated to elect Donald Trump in 2016 by the “existential threat” of the advancement of racial minorities, he identifies the dark irony: “If 2016 and 2018 are any indication, the concept of a looming threat could be an important motivator for voters in this current election cycle. In this sense, Trump’s election represents the height of irony: He was elected as a reaction to perceived existential threat, even as he poses an existential threat to communities of color.”
The full article can be found here.
