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Recent research argues that political mistrust among African Americans represents unhappiness with the political system. To date, however, no study has directly examined the influence of black mistrust on support for the system. In this study I show that greater mistrust among blacks leads to greater support for change in the party and electoral systems. I also find evidence of inter-racial differences in the influence of mistrust on support for the political system. These findings have implications for our understanding of the nature of political trust and add to a growing literature demonstrating the political consequences of mistrust in government. Adapted from the source document.

Some scholars argue that exposure to news media has a negative effect on public trust in government, while others maintain that the relationship between media exposure and political trust is positive and reciprocal. The current study departs from most research in this area by focusing on how both news source and individual characteristics of news consumers moderate the influence of news exposure on political trust. Employing several panel studies from a survey specifically designed to investigate media use and campaign dynamics during the 2000 presidential election, the current study makes several novel contributions to the literature. Specifically, the author finds that the influence of news media on political trust—positive or negative—is dependent on both the news source (i.e., newspaper or television) and individuals' existing level of political trust. Those with low levels of political trust do not become more or less trusting following news exposure regardless of the news source. However, those with higher levels of political trust become more trusting following exposure to newspapers and less trusting following exposure to television news.

Recent research argues that political mistrust among African Americans represents unhappiness with the political system. To date, however, no study has directly examined the influence of black mistrust on support for the system. In this study I show that greater mistrust among blacks leads to greater support for change in the party and electoral systems. I also find evidence of inter-racial differences in the influence of mistrust on support for the political system. These findings have implications for our understanding of the nature of political trust and add to a growing literature demonstrating the political consequences of mistrust in government.

In contrast to what we know about the sources of political trust among whites, recent research suggests that political mistrust among blacks indicates discontent with the political system. The current study adds to research investigating racial differences in political trust by examining racial differences in the influence of the 2000 United States presidential election on political trust. Specifically, I test for whether whites and blacks adjusted their trust in government in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Bush versus Gore (2000) and whether the influence of the Court's decision on trust was dependent on partisan identification. The findings indicate that blacks perceived the Court's decision as illegitimate, reinforcing their mistrust in their political system. Adapted from the source document.

This study calls into question the current wisdom in the political trust literature maintaining that trust in government, for all citizens, represents satisfaction with short-term political and policy performance and does not affect political participation. I argue, first, that the sources of political trust among African Americans are distinct from those of Whites: Trust among African Americans follows more from racial group consciousness than from short-term political and policy evaluations. Second, I argue that lack of trust among African Americans is associated with a greater propensity to engage in protest types of participation. The findings support these hypotheses and suggest that lack of trust among Blacks represents displeasure with the political system.

AbstractMost research studying minority representation concludes that minorities enjoy better representation when they constitute a larger share of a constituency, but only through the partisanship and race/ethnicity of the representative. Other research finds that minorities receive worse representation when they constitute a larger share of a constituency. We argue that minority composition will have an independent effect on representation, but that this effect will differ depending on the representative's partisanship. We apply our theory to Latino composition and state legislative voting on immigration policy and find that Latino composition has no effect on voting among Democratic legislators, who are less likely to vote in a restrictive direction on immigration than Republicans regardless of the Latino composition in their district. However, Republicans are more likely to vote to restrict immigration as Latinos comprise a larger share of their district. Our findings suggest that scholars should consider the moderating effect of legislator partisanship when examining minority composition and representation.

ObjectiveWhile most research on minority representation in Congress finds that the African‐American constituency size influences representation of the group's interests, most recent studies examining Latinos find no such relationship. We argue that the failure to find a relationship stems from the focus of prior research on the proportion of the Latino population in the total geographic constituency rather than the proportion of Latinos in the electoral constituency, what we term "Latino electoral strength" (LES).MethodsUsing data on Latino turnout at the state level, we examine the effect of LES on representation of Latino interests in the U.S. Senate. We use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression that accounts for the time serial, cross‐sectional (TSCS) nature of our data.ResultsConsistent with other studies, we find no influence of Latino population size on Latino representation. However, LES has a significant, negative effect on Latino representation.ConclusionsOur results suggest that greater LES leads to worse representation of their interests, and that this relationship increases as LES grows. This is consistent with existing studies of racial threat theory.

We examine the relationship between the racial composition of state electorates and white racial attitudes, arguing that the racial threat hypothesis should characterize this relationship. Specifically, we make the case for why greater black electoral strength should lead to more racially conservative policy preferences and more negative racial stereotypes among whites. Our findings are consistent with this expectation. However, this relationship is dependent on two contexts. We find that black electoral strength mattered in the context of the racially-salient 2008 national elections, but not during the 2000 or 2004 elections. Also, consistent with the racial threat hypothesis, we find that black electoral strength influences racial attitudes only among whites who have greater reason to fear economic competition from African Americans. Overall, our findings are consistent with recent studies demonstrating that the influence of racial composition on white racial attitudes is dependent on context. Adapted from the source document.