The Problematic Black Vote
Feb. 14th, 2008 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheA paper from 1996.
The Importance of Action: The Problematic Black Vote
Blacks vote Democratic 95 percent of the time.1 In 1964, the power of the black vote enabled the Democrats to capture Southern states without a white majority.2 Today, that power lies in a much smaller base: without the black vote, Democratic contenders cannot conceivably win an election. The black vote needs to be secured and combined with core white Democratic supporters, so that Democratic candidates can try to persuade swing voters. The current situation begs the question of why do so many African-Americans decline to vote? Logic declares that a larger voting base increases vote power, so blacks seem to hurt only themselves when they neglect to vote. What has determined the voting behavior of blacks? What events have eroded the voting power of blacks?
Like the women's vote, the black vote is important because it represents the behavior of a group of people whose voting power had been denied. However, the black vote is unique because Afro-American voting behavior is intrinsically rooted in the people's history. Since the Reconstruction, the general behavior of blacks is to vote in block, either for one party or the other. Until Roosevelt came into the presidency and began the New Deal, blacks were committed to the Republican party. That commitment, however, waned considerably from the 1890s through the 1930s as the Republicans eschewed their need for the black vote and began to cater to a growing "lily-white" constituency.3 The Great Depression forced all citizens, especially African-Americans, to consider their economic status in greater regard than sentimental holdings to political parties. Thus began the ties of African-Americans to the Democratic party.4
The black vote held hardly any power, however, until the 1960s. In 1960, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, allowing many blacks in the South to register to vote. However, it was not until the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, that most areas of the Deep South opened up to multiracial voter registration. Prior and concurrent to this time, the Republican party took up the reins that the traditional Democratic party had left unattended: the ideology that white supremacy was correct and that segregation was the best course of action. Beginning with Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats in 1948 and continuing with Barry Goldwater in 1964 and George Wallace in 1968, the Republicans became increasingly averse to civil rights and integration. This ideology, which ran counter to the ideals held by most blacks, drove more blacks to the Democrats and secured those blacks who had been with Democrats since the New Deal.
The 1970s proved to be a decade of "white backlash," a trend that had started in the 1960s and made headway as the years progressed.5 Lower and lower middle class whites used the civil rights issue to assert that the government was being unfair by singling out one group and consequently ignoring the well-being of whites. In 1970, Richard Nixon proposed to seriously alter the Voting Rights Act. Gerald Ford, then a Congressman, "urged approval of the Administration bill saying that the purpose of such 'discriminatory legislation' [the 1965 Act] had been accomplished and that the South should not continue to be punished for actions since remedied."6 Blacks saw this move as a considerable step backward and began to lose faith in the federal government. Watergate only compounded the disenchantment. The trust of African-Americans in their government fell to depths not seen since the aftermath of the Emancipation.7
One theory that can explain the voting behavior of blacks would be Marxist theory. From the 1890s until the 1960s, blacks, especially Southern blacks, were kept from the polls or simply did not register. In the 1890s, over 300 counties in the South had a majority of blacks in their populaces. However, by 1900, most blacks had been denied the right to vote through such means as poll taxes, literacy tests, and threats of violence, among others. By the time the black vote mattered, their numbers had dwindled. In 1960, fewer than 150 counties in the South had a black majority. By 1988, when Jesse Jackson ran for Democratic candidacy, the figure had dropped well below 100.8 Using this history, Marxists would maintain that, due to structural and systemic forces, blacks had denied the true power of their vote. Also, they would deny the assertion that, since these impediments have been removed, the black vote now bears as much power as though blacks had never been denied the vote. Due to an almost society-wide instance of cognitive dissonance, blacks had come to believe that their vote held no power; therefore, there was no reason to go to the polls, even when the worst of barriers to do so were removed. In addition, many Southern blacks had moved to the North, presumably to escape discriminatory practices and perhaps to regain the power of their vote. Unfortunately, in doing so, they weakened the base of their power, which resided in the tightness of the Black Belt. In such small numbers, their voices could not be heard.
The theory of rational choice also would seem to bear some explanatory power here. As a majority of black voters obtained the right to vote, they voted with the candidate that seemed best able to better not only their economic standing but also their general standard of living. In the 1930s, the New Deal promised jobs and public assistance to those in need, which, by that time, had included disproportionate amounts of African-Americans. As the platform of the Democratic party expanded to include a plank supporting civil rights, blacks continued to vote for the policies that would help them, their families, and their communities the most.9 Later, when white backlash from the civil rights movement set in and blacks lost their confidence in government, they also lost confidence in their vote. Therefore, it is logical that many blacks would not endeavor to visit the polls, since they believe that their vote inherently holds no power.
Of these two theories, it would seem that Marxist theory best explains this behavior. For years, African-Americans had been discouraged to vote through a myriad of means. Only thirty years after the Emancipation, blacks were kept from being "whole" citizens, a practice that continued for seven decades. During this period, blacks were considered three-fifths of a person and "separate but equal," denied enrollment in white schools, discouraged to attend college, and displaced from employment to "make room" for unemployed whites. Blacks had been forced into a culture of poverty, which perpetuated low socioeconomic statuses from generation to generation.
While some aspects of black voting behavior can be explained by rational choice, such as the fact that blacks show lower levels of turnout because many have had lower levels of education, Marxists would insist that these conditions arose from institutional barriers. These hindrances were placed by the reform measures of the capitalists to drive the Populists movement to a halt.10 Piven and Cloward, whose Marxist theory is examined in Doing Political Science, maintain that "the Reagan victory of 1980 was literally made possible by large-scale nonvoting."11 This coincides with Walton's data, that an average of 50 percent of black voters actually vote, while a large majority of the nonvoters consider themselves liberal or moderate.12
In sum, we have explored the voting behavior of African-Americans (specifically the allegiance of black voters to the Democratic party), what kind of power the black vote possesses, and why this power has come about the way it has. The problem of the black vote can be traced back to the reforms of the 1890s. If blacks had been allowed to possess their political voice from the Emancipation forward (that is to say, if "Jim Crow" practices had not been instituted), their voting power would not be as weak as it is today.
ENDNOTES
1Hill, David B. and Mary M. Kent. Election Demographics: Population Trends and Public Policy, p. 8. The authors go on to say that to save time during polling, interviewers simply tack on 95 percent of the estimated number of black voters to the tally of white Democratic voters. These pollsters then can spend more time interviewing white respondents. Understandably, this technique is somewhat controversial.
2Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Vital South, p. 50.
3Weiss, Nancy J. Farewell to the Party of Lincoln, p. 5.
4This, however, does not mean that Roosevelt went out of his way to draw black votes. On the contrary, Roosevelt seemed to be a "closet" racist. He only won black support because of his policies for the disadvantaged, which coincidentally included blacks. He refused to set black people apart as a specific disadvantaged group. See ibid.
5Barker, Lucius J. and Jesse J. McCorry, Jr. Black Americans and the Political System, pp. 339-40.
6Ibid., pp. 335-36, quoting the Congressional Quarterly (January 23, 1970), p. 237.
7Ibid., pp. 344-45 (2 tables).
8Walton, Hanes Jr. Invisible Politics: Black Political Behavior, pp. 84-87 (2 tables).
9It was mere coincidence that the Democratic party garnered the votes. If the Republicans had supported the same values, the black vote would have been split. In fact, it has been noted that during the 1920s, blacks cast more and more of their votes in support of Communist and Socialist parties, because they were the only ones that held platforms acceptable to blacks. See Invisible Politics.
10Zuckerman, Alan S. Doing Political Science: An Introduction to Political Analysis, p. 37.
11Ibid., p. 37.
12Invisible Politics, pp. 32-33.
WORKS REFERENCED
Barker, Lucius J. and Jesse J. McCorry, Jr. Black Americans and the Political System. Massachusetts: Winthrop Publishers, Inc. 1976.
Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Vital South. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1992.
Hill, David B. and Mary M. Kent. Election Demographics: Population Trends and Public Policy. Population Reference Bureau, Inc. 1988.
Strong, Donald S. Issue Voting and Party Realignment. Alabama: University of Alabama Press. 1977.
Walton, Hanes Jr. Invisible Politics: Black Political Behavior. New York: State University of New York Press. 1985.
Weiss, Nancy J. Farewell to the Party of Lincoln. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1983.
Zuckerman, Alan S. Doing Political Science: An Introduction to Political Analysis. Colorado: Westview Press, Inc. 1991.
December 6, 1996
Blacks vote Democratic 95 percent of the time.1 In 1964, the power of the black vote enabled the Democrats to capture Southern states without a white majority.2 Today, that power lies in a much smaller base: without the black vote, Democratic contenders cannot conceivably win an election. The black vote needs to be secured and combined with core white Democratic supporters, so that Democratic candidates can try to persuade swing voters. The current situation begs the question of why do so many African-Americans decline to vote? Logic declares that a larger voting base increases vote power, so blacks seem to hurt only themselves when they neglect to vote. What has determined the voting behavior of blacks? What events have eroded the voting power of blacks?
Like the women's vote, the black vote is important because it represents the behavior of a group of people whose voting power had been denied. However, the black vote is unique because Afro-American voting behavior is intrinsically rooted in the people's history. Since the Reconstruction, the general behavior of blacks is to vote in block, either for one party or the other. Until Roosevelt came into the presidency and began the New Deal, blacks were committed to the Republican party. That commitment, however, waned considerably from the 1890s through the 1930s as the Republicans eschewed their need for the black vote and began to cater to a growing "lily-white" constituency.3 The Great Depression forced all citizens, especially African-Americans, to consider their economic status in greater regard than sentimental holdings to political parties. Thus began the ties of African-Americans to the Democratic party.4
The black vote held hardly any power, however, until the 1960s. In 1960, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, allowing many blacks in the South to register to vote. However, it was not until the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, that most areas of the Deep South opened up to multiracial voter registration. Prior and concurrent to this time, the Republican party took up the reins that the traditional Democratic party had left unattended: the ideology that white supremacy was correct and that segregation was the best course of action. Beginning with Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats in 1948 and continuing with Barry Goldwater in 1964 and George Wallace in 1968, the Republicans became increasingly averse to civil rights and integration. This ideology, which ran counter to the ideals held by most blacks, drove more blacks to the Democrats and secured those blacks who had been with Democrats since the New Deal.
The 1970s proved to be a decade of "white backlash," a trend that had started in the 1960s and made headway as the years progressed.5 Lower and lower middle class whites used the civil rights issue to assert that the government was being unfair by singling out one group and consequently ignoring the well-being of whites. In 1970, Richard Nixon proposed to seriously alter the Voting Rights Act. Gerald Ford, then a Congressman, "urged approval of the Administration bill saying that the purpose of such 'discriminatory legislation' [the 1965 Act] had been accomplished and that the South should not continue to be punished for actions since remedied."6 Blacks saw this move as a considerable step backward and began to lose faith in the federal government. Watergate only compounded the disenchantment. The trust of African-Americans in their government fell to depths not seen since the aftermath of the Emancipation.7
One theory that can explain the voting behavior of blacks would be Marxist theory. From the 1890s until the 1960s, blacks, especially Southern blacks, were kept from the polls or simply did not register. In the 1890s, over 300 counties in the South had a majority of blacks in their populaces. However, by 1900, most blacks had been denied the right to vote through such means as poll taxes, literacy tests, and threats of violence, among others. By the time the black vote mattered, their numbers had dwindled. In 1960, fewer than 150 counties in the South had a black majority. By 1988, when Jesse Jackson ran for Democratic candidacy, the figure had dropped well below 100.8 Using this history, Marxists would maintain that, due to structural and systemic forces, blacks had denied the true power of their vote. Also, they would deny the assertion that, since these impediments have been removed, the black vote now bears as much power as though blacks had never been denied the vote. Due to an almost society-wide instance of cognitive dissonance, blacks had come to believe that their vote held no power; therefore, there was no reason to go to the polls, even when the worst of barriers to do so were removed. In addition, many Southern blacks had moved to the North, presumably to escape discriminatory practices and perhaps to regain the power of their vote. Unfortunately, in doing so, they weakened the base of their power, which resided in the tightness of the Black Belt. In such small numbers, their voices could not be heard.
The theory of rational choice also would seem to bear some explanatory power here. As a majority of black voters obtained the right to vote, they voted with the candidate that seemed best able to better not only their economic standing but also their general standard of living. In the 1930s, the New Deal promised jobs and public assistance to those in need, which, by that time, had included disproportionate amounts of African-Americans. As the platform of the Democratic party expanded to include a plank supporting civil rights, blacks continued to vote for the policies that would help them, their families, and their communities the most.9 Later, when white backlash from the civil rights movement set in and blacks lost their confidence in government, they also lost confidence in their vote. Therefore, it is logical that many blacks would not endeavor to visit the polls, since they believe that their vote inherently holds no power.
Of these two theories, it would seem that Marxist theory best explains this behavior. For years, African-Americans had been discouraged to vote through a myriad of means. Only thirty years after the Emancipation, blacks were kept from being "whole" citizens, a practice that continued for seven decades. During this period, blacks were considered three-fifths of a person and "separate but equal," denied enrollment in white schools, discouraged to attend college, and displaced from employment to "make room" for unemployed whites. Blacks had been forced into a culture of poverty, which perpetuated low socioeconomic statuses from generation to generation.
While some aspects of black voting behavior can be explained by rational choice, such as the fact that blacks show lower levels of turnout because many have had lower levels of education, Marxists would insist that these conditions arose from institutional barriers. These hindrances were placed by the reform measures of the capitalists to drive the Populists movement to a halt.10 Piven and Cloward, whose Marxist theory is examined in Doing Political Science, maintain that "the Reagan victory of 1980 was literally made possible by large-scale nonvoting."11 This coincides with Walton's data, that an average of 50 percent of black voters actually vote, while a large majority of the nonvoters consider themselves liberal or moderate.12
In sum, we have explored the voting behavior of African-Americans (specifically the allegiance of black voters to the Democratic party), what kind of power the black vote possesses, and why this power has come about the way it has. The problem of the black vote can be traced back to the reforms of the 1890s. If blacks had been allowed to possess their political voice from the Emancipation forward (that is to say, if "Jim Crow" practices had not been instituted), their voting power would not be as weak as it is today.
ENDNOTES
1Hill, David B. and Mary M. Kent. Election Demographics: Population Trends and Public Policy, p. 8. The authors go on to say that to save time during polling, interviewers simply tack on 95 percent of the estimated number of black voters to the tally of white Democratic voters. These pollsters then can spend more time interviewing white respondents. Understandably, this technique is somewhat controversial.
2Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Vital South, p. 50.
3Weiss, Nancy J. Farewell to the Party of Lincoln, p. 5.
4This, however, does not mean that Roosevelt went out of his way to draw black votes. On the contrary, Roosevelt seemed to be a "closet" racist. He only won black support because of his policies for the disadvantaged, which coincidentally included blacks. He refused to set black people apart as a specific disadvantaged group. See ibid.
5Barker, Lucius J. and Jesse J. McCorry, Jr. Black Americans and the Political System, pp. 339-40.
6Ibid., pp. 335-36, quoting the Congressional Quarterly (January 23, 1970), p. 237.
7Ibid., pp. 344-45 (2 tables).
8Walton, Hanes Jr. Invisible Politics: Black Political Behavior, pp. 84-87 (2 tables).
9It was mere coincidence that the Democratic party garnered the votes. If the Republicans had supported the same values, the black vote would have been split. In fact, it has been noted that during the 1920s, blacks cast more and more of their votes in support of Communist and Socialist parties, because they were the only ones that held platforms acceptable to blacks. See Invisible Politics.
10Zuckerman, Alan S. Doing Political Science: An Introduction to Political Analysis, p. 37.
11Ibid., p. 37.
12Invisible Politics, pp. 32-33.
WORKS REFERENCED
Barker, Lucius J. and Jesse J. McCorry, Jr. Black Americans and the Political System. Massachusetts: Winthrop Publishers, Inc. 1976.
Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Vital South. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1992.
Hill, David B. and Mary M. Kent. Election Demographics: Population Trends and Public Policy. Population Reference Bureau, Inc. 1988.
Strong, Donald S. Issue Voting and Party Realignment. Alabama: University of Alabama Press. 1977.
Walton, Hanes Jr. Invisible Politics: Black Political Behavior. New York: State University of New York Press. 1985.
Weiss, Nancy J. Farewell to the Party of Lincoln. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1983.
Zuckerman, Alan S. Doing Political Science: An Introduction to Political Analysis. Colorado: Westview Press, Inc. 1991.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-15 04:26 am (UTC)The main issue you raise, i.e., why is turnout so low among black voters, is an important and interesting one. This basic question is obscured by the second question you ask (at least in an [unintelligible--"roundabout" from context] way), why do African-American voters choose one party or another? It might have been better if you had chosen to focus on just one of these questions. The conflation of the two issues is particularly evident in your discussion of the two theories where you seem to go back and forth between the two issues. Still, I can see that you put a lot of work into this essay. Moreover, you have some good insights and I like the way in which you use history and social events to develop your analysis. I would say your treatment of Marx actually sounds more like a description of the Weberian approach, actually.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-15 01:25 pm (UTC)We're still waiting.
Think this'll be the year?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-15 02:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-15 02:40 pm (UTC)</ snark>
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-15 11:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-16 01:51 am (UTC)