From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections, Enlarged Edition / Edition 1

by Katherine Tate

Overview

The struggle for civil rights among black Americans has moved into the voting booth. How such a shift came about—and what it means—is revealed in this timely reflection on black presidential politics in recent years.

Since 1984, largely as a result of Jesse Jackson’s presidential bid, blacks have been galvanized politically. Drawing on a substantial national survey of black voters, Katherine Tate shows how this process manifested itself at the polls in 1984, 1988, and 1992. In an analysis of the black presidential vote by region, income, age, and gender, she is able to identify unique aspects of the black experience as they shape political behavior, and to answer longstanding questions about that behavior.

Unique in its focus on the black electorate, this study illuminates a little-understood and tremendously significant aspect of American politics. It will benefit those who wish to understand better the subtle interplay of race and politics, at the voting booth and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674325401
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	08/19/1998
Series:	Russell Sage Foundation Bk.
Edition description:	ENL
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Katherine Tate is Professor of Political Science at Brown University.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. The New Black Politics

The New Black Voter and Jackson's Presidential Campaigns

The Second Stage of the Civil Rights Movement?

2. Race, Class, and Black Policy Views

Is the Significance of Race Increasing or Declining?

Black Political Liberalism and Conservatism

United by Race or Divided by Class?

3. Blacks and the Democratic Party

A Historical Overview

Explaining Black Support for the Democratic Party Today

Impact of the Reagan Presidency and the Jackson Candidacies

4. Group Resources and Black Electoral Participation

Black Collective Resources 77 Who within the Black Community Participates?

The Impact of Group-Based Political Resources on Black Participation

Black Officeseeking and Participation

5. Black Turnout in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Primaries and Elections

Who Voted in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Primaries?

The Impact of Reagan, Bush, and Jackson on Turnout in the Presidential Elections

Blacks as Strategic Voters

6. The Black Vote in 1984 and 1988

Blacks' Evaluations of Presidential Nominees and Presidents

Economic Conditions and the Black Presidential Vote

Black Support for Jesse Jackson

7. Black Power and Electoral Politics

The Black Power Movement

Black Political Independence and Racial Voting

The Resurgence of Black Nationalism

8 Black Electoral Politics and Beyond

Group-Oriented Politics or a Movement?

Black Alternatives to the Ballot

Appendix A: The National Black Election Study

Appendix B: Methodological Notes

Notes

References

Index

What People are Saying About This

Paul R. Abramson

From Protest to Politics makes an important contribution to our understanding of black electoral behavior. Tate has a deep and broad understanding of the research literature on black political behavior. Her data analyses are sound, and her interpretation of the data is solid.
— Paul R. Abramson, Michigan State University

Editorial Reviews

[A] thought-provoking examination of black presidential politics during the 1980s.

Lee A. Daniels

Represents the most substantively rich and empirically based analysis of African-American politics at the national level in the post–civil rights era.

Lucius J. Barker

From her deep and broad understanding of the research literature, Tate makes an important contribution to our understanding of black electoral behavior.

Paul Abramson

From Protest to Politics makes an important contribution to our understanding of black electoral behavior. Tate has a deep and broad understanding of the research literature on black political behavior. Her data analyses are sound, and her interpretation of the data is solid.

Paul R. Abramson