Improving racialization research: a post-publication peer review of Shoub et al. (2026)

Abstract Analyses assessing whether a particular phenomenon has been racialized often use only one measure of racial attitudes at a time. However, simultaneous use of independent measures of attitudes about more than one relevant racial group can produce a better understanding about the nature of racialization. To illustrate this, an analysis of American National Election Studies data indicated that, among White adult U.S. citizens in 2020, ratings about the U.S. Supreme Court associated with racial resentment and with the difference in feeling thermometer ratings about Whites and Blacks. But when these feeling thermometer ratings were included in the same analysis as separate measures, ratings about the U.S. Supreme Court substantially associated with ratings about Whites but did not associate at p < 0.05 with ratings about Blacks. These results suggest that analyses into the spillover of group-based attitudes should include independent measures about more than one relevant group, which will help prevent bias in inferences about the targets of prejudice.