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Do political protests mobilize voters? Evidence from the Black Lives Matter protests

Author

Listed:
  • Oliver Engist

    (Stockholm School of Economics)

  • Felix Schafmeister

    (Stockholm School of Economics)

Abstract

In this article, we study the local political mobilization effects of political protests in the context of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. We analyze monthly voter registration data from 2136 US counties across 32 states, leveraging variation in the exposure to BLM protests across counties in a two-way fixed-effects framework with a matched control group. In contrast to previous studies, which reported substantial mobilization effects of local protests in other contexts, we show that voter registrations in the aggregate were insensitive to the presence of local BLM protests. We further disentangle the effects along party lines and the degree to which protests were associated with violent behaviors and find similarly insignificant effects. We present some preliminary evidence that the large scale of the protests and their extensive news coverage might have reduced the importance of experiencing a protest firsthand.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Engist & Felix Schafmeister, 2022. "Do political protests mobilize voters? Evidence from the Black Lives Matter protests," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 293-313, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:193:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-022-00998-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-022-00998-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Kaixin Liu & Jiwei Zhou & Junda Wang, 2023. "Can the Black Lives Matter Movement Reduce Racial Disparities? Evidence from Medical Crowdfunding," Papers 2310.14590, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    2. Tate Fegley & Ilia Murtazashvili, 2023. "From defunding to refunding police: institutions and the persistence of policing budgets," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 123-140, July.
    3. Artís, Annalí Casanueva & Avetian, Vladimir & Sardoschau, Sulin & Saxena, Kavya, 2022. "Social Media and the Broadening of Social Movements: Evidence from Black Lives Matter," IZA Discussion Papers 15812, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political protests; Voting; Black Lives Matter; Voter registration; Election;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

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