Dismantling the Master's House: An Assessment of the Gender Gap in the Political Knowledge of African Americans

ABSTRACT Objectives This study examines the political knowledge of African Americans, focusing specifically on the gender gap within the group. I propose Black women‐specific measures of knowledge that focus on the information Black women need to survive a racist, sexist American political system. Methods I utilize an online, original survey executed by Qualtrics to examine citizens’ knowledge and various aspects of their political behavior. The survey has a quota‐based sample of 708 US citizens executed to be nationally representative regarding age and gender. Results The analyses find that Black women‐specific measures reverse the gender gap in political knowledge and improve the knowledge scores of other groups as well. Conclusion This study pushes the discipline to expand the general knowledge battery to include domain‐specific topics to better measure citizens’ political knowledge.