The Impact of Incumbent Race/Ethnicity and Challenger Experience on White Evaluations of Competency and Integrity

ABSTRACT Does race/ethnicity or qualifications matter more in White evaluations of U.S. House Democratic Members of Congress (MC) and their opposing Republican candidates? This study examines White perceptions of competence and integrity as a function of the race/ethnicity of the Democratic MC and the prior experience of the Republican challenger utilizing the 2010 CCES “Common Content” survey, after controlling for the propensity to evaluate the perceived competence and integrity of both the Democrat MC and the Republican opposition. The findings indicate in‐group favoritism and outgroup bias toward MCs facing challengers with prior office‐holding experience conditioned on one's partisan affiliation, but no statistically consistent difference for pairings with a non‐experienced challenger. These findings suggest future research should consider not only the race/ethnicity of the MC, but also the experience of the opponent and the partisanship of the respondent to gain a better understanding of how the electorate views candidates. Related Articles Knuckey, J. 2010. “Beyond the Politics of Race? Explaining the Vote in Recent Louisiana Gubernatorial Elections.” Politics & Policy 38, no. 2: 285–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00238.x . Slocum, F. 2008. “White Racial Attitudes and Implicit Racial Appeals: An Experimental Study of ‘Race Coding’ in Political Discourse.” Politics & Policy 29, no. 4: 650‐669. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2001.tb00609.x . van Doorn, B. W. 2015. “Pre‐ and Post‐Welfare Reform Media Portrayals of Poverty in the United States: The Continuing Importance of Race and Ethnicity.” Politics & Policy 43, no. 1: 142–162. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12107 .