The American Politics Workshop

presents

Vincent L. Hutchings

Professor of Political Science and AfroAmerican and African Studies (by courtesy) and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan

“Whitewashing: How Obama Used Implicit Racial Cues as a Defense Against Political Rumors”

Abstract:

Although Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, he would have garnered more support had many White voters not penalized him because of his race. In part, these penalties involved persistent rumors about Obama’s citizenship and religion. How did the Obama campaign respond to these rumors? We argue that the Obama campaign “Whitewashed” his image by drawing attention to the candidate’s bi-racial ancestry and highlighting visual associations with Whites in order to curry favor with this constituency. We also argue that Republicans were most receptive to Whitewashing appeals. We rely upon a content analysis of presidential advertisements in 2008, an experiment designed to manipulate the images in one of these ads, and finally survey analysis of two nationally representative samples to test these hypotheses. Our hypotheses are generally confirmed and suggest that Obama succeeded in part because he appealed to the very intolerance he ostensibly sought to overcome.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018

12:00 – 1:20 pm

**Lunch will be served**

Location: Pick Hall, First Floor Lounge, 5828 S. University Ave.

To join the workshop email list visit: https://lists.uchicago.edu/web/subscribe/americanpolitics. Individuals with disabilities or those who require special accommodations should contact the coordinators, Jenn M. Jackson (jennjackson@uchicago.edu) and Scott Cooley (cooley@uchicago.edu).

Additional information about the American Politics Workshop can be found on our website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/americanpol/.