| dc.description.abstract |
It is well documented that framing certain race-neutral policies, such as the death
penalty, voter ID laws, and three-strikes laws, in terms of race can increase whites’
support for those laws. This study utilized a survey-based experiment to explore the
impact of racial framing on voters’ support for repealing ex-felon disenfranchisement
statutes. White respondents who were told that felon disenfranchisement disproportionately
affects blacks were less supportive of restoring felons’ voting rights than were those
given no racial frame. This impact was concentrated among white Republicans, and the
racial frame had a minimal impact on white Democrats’ responses to the question. The
survey also asked respondents for their opinions about restoring both felons’ voting
rights and firearm rights. The difference between the control and experimental groups’
responses to this question was greater than the difference between the two groups’
responses to the question about voting rights alone. Republicans and Democrats responded
similarly, with both expressing lesser support for restoring felons’ voting and gun
rights when the issue was racially framed. Racial threat theory and negative attitudes
about blacks help explain why whites became less supportive of ex-felon rights restoration
when told that the issue disproportionately affects blacks. The survey also polled
blacks, but the frame had a minimal impact on their opinions.
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