Political Disenfranchisement? Perceptions of Political Racial Threat and Support for Felon Disenfranchisement Among White Americans

Abstract Felon disenfranchisement, while ostensibly race neutral, bars more Black Americans from voting than White Americans. This has promulgated claims that felon disenfranchisement is used to limit Black political influence. However, we lack systematic evidence tying perceptions of racial political power to support for disenfranchising felons. Utilizing the racial threat framework, we argue that White Americans who perceive Black Americans as too politically powerful will be more supportive of disenfranchising felons, particularly right-leaning White Americans. Using data from the 2020 and 2024 ANES, we find perceptions of political threat are associated with greater support for felon disenfranchisement. In further support for the political racial threat hypothesis, we find perceptions of Black political power increase support among those on the political right while decreasing support among the political left. Importantly, these results hold after controlling for economic and symbolic threat, general Black affect, crime spending preferences, and Black population size. These results suggest political racial threat significantly influences support for felon disenfranchisement among White Americans, and conditionally on political leanings, underscoring the role of political racial threat in whether White Americans think felons should be allowed to vote.