White Democrats may react more strongly than Republicans to racial identity threats.

Evidence

America’s major parties have sorted along social, ideological, and economic lines, producing greater intraparty homogeneity and interparty distance (Levendusky, 2009; Mason, 2018). Racial identity is crucial here (Westwood & Peterson, 2022; Zhirkov & Valentino, 2022), with racially conservative Whites aligning with Republicans and racially liberal Whites affiliating with Democrats (Valentino & Sears, 2005). This suggests White Republicans are especially sensitive to racial identity threats because they endorse symbols and principles that bolster the racial status quo. But as Pe´ rez et al. (2021) show, White Republicans (at baseline) display higher racial identity levels than Democrats. Consequently, White Republicans find it harder to bolster their already higher sense of racial identity in light of threats to it. This implies White Democrats might have wider berth to react to racial identity threats. Thus, we expect that (H5) Democrats (versus Republicans) will react more strongly to identity threats. — Efrén Pérez, Jessica HyunJeong Lee, Ana Oaxaca, Tania Solano Cervantes, Jasmine García Rodríguez, Kimberly Lam, and David McFall, Manifold Threats to White Identity and…, 27

We also learned, unexpectedly, that these triggers, as operationalized here, performed uniformly across White Democrats and Republicans, suggesting White individuals in each party (not just Republicans) are similarly susceptible to affronts to their racial ingroup. — Efrén Pérez, Jessica HyunJeong Lee, Ana Oaxaca, Tania Solano Cervantes, Jasmine García Rodríguez, Kimberly Lam, and David McFall, Manifold Threats to White Identity and…, 81

Categorization

• XREF: Counterintuitive ceiling-logic parallels the idea in threat-framing research that threat operates more powerfully on those with lower baseline investment — connects to mortality-salience and attitude-bolstering literatures. — connects to: Prior research disagrees over which partisan camp White identity threats mobilize most — Efrén Pérez, Jessica HyunJeong Lee, Ana Oaxaca, Tania Solano Cervantes, Jasmine García Rodríguez, Kimberly Lam, and David McFall, Manifold Threats to White Identity and…, 13; Ethnic identification, not party affiliation, moderates Whites’ threat response. — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity: Why…, 21; Status threat from diversity shifts whites rightward regardless of party affiliation. — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity: Why…, 66 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does the ceiling effect (Republicans already hard to move) get tested directly, or is party as moderator confounded with racial-attitude extremity?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Efrén Pérez, Jessica HyunJeong Lee, Ana Oaxaca, Tania Solano Cervantes, Jasmine García Rodríguez, Kimberly Lam, and David McFall, Manifold Threats to White Identity and…, 27; Efrén Pérez, Jessica HyunJeong Lee, Ana Oaxaca, Tania Solano Cervantes, Jasmine García Rodríguez, Kimberly Lam, and David McFall, Manifold Threats to White Identity and…, 81

Broader Connections

• Racial resentment predicts switching to Trump mainly among white liberals. #corroborates (0.90) — Rachel Wetts and Robb Willer, Who Is Called by the Dog Whistle?…, 188
• Ethnic identification, not party affiliation, moderates Whites’ threat response. #qualifies (0.85) — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity, 21
• Status threat from diversity shifts whites rightward regardless of party affiliation. #contradicts (0.80) — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity, 66