30 Apr
2006
30 Apr
'06
3:55 p.m.
Certainly sounds like an interesting paper! In terms of recommendations
for the abstract, here are mine:
First, can you capture your actual argument in the title itself? Not to
sound like a broken record, but... Second, I'm not sure that
"electorates" is exactly the right word in the second sentence--perhaps
just "demographic groups"? Third, I might find a way to consolidate the
conventional wisdom that you are building from more succinctly if you
can--perhaps in as little as a sentence or at most two, not three.
Fourth, I might make how economic opportunity and racial polarization
relate more clear--are they alternate hypotheses explaining the same
general trend, or is this more of a novel finding? Since this appears to
be your key point, I would explain it more fully, and perhaps use the
title to indicate the centrality of economic opportunity in your
explanation.
Best,
Dan
On Sun, 30 Apr 2006, Doru Gavril wrote:
Here's our abstract y'all. Any complaints,
suggestions, advice? (esp.
does "socialize" make sense in this context?)
Yuki and Doru
_Winning Strategies_
_How Race and Economic Opportunity Shaped the California Electorate_
Wedge issues aim to polarize the electorate and secure a majority for
the proposing party. However, already committed electorates are less
susceptible to this strategy than emerging constituencies. Several
racially charged propositions on California ballots, aimed at polarizing
the preferences of Whites and Latinos, led the latter to join the
Democrats? camp while affecting little change on the former group.
Unlike previous research suggested, we find no backlash from Whites
against the racial wedge issues employed by Republicans. Employing a
multidimensional model of partisan identification, we find that, holding
constant economic opportunities in the ?80s and ?90s, White party
allegiances remained mostly unchanged, while Latinos became firmly
lodged in the Democratic camp. We attribute previously reported
variations in the partisan makeup of the electorate to changes in
economic opportunity. Thus, wedge issues appeal only to unstable,
emerging electorates, and fail to muster enough momentum to persuade
already socialized voters.
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