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Who Loses in American Democracy? A Count of Votes Demonstrates the Limited Representation of African Americans

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  • HAJNAL, ZOLTAN L.

Abstract

Critics have long feared that America's winner-take-all electoral system would undermine the interests of minorities. Unfortunately, few available tests broadly assess how well minorities fare in a democracy. To gauge winners and losers in the American case, I introduce a new measure of representation. For any election, I count up how many voters from each demographic group vote for a candidate that loses. After comparing this new measure to its alternatives, I use data from the entire series of Voter News Service exit polls and a sample of mayoral elections to determine which kinds of voters end up losers. I find that across the range of American elections, African Americans are consistently more likely than other groups to end up losers, raising questions about equity in American democracy. The one exception to the pattern of black failure—congressional House elections—suggests ways to better incorporate minority interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Hajnal, Zoltan L., 2009. "Who Loses in American Democracy? A Count of Votes Demonstrates the Limited Representation of African Americans," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(1), pages 37-57, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:103:y:2009:i:01:p:37-57_09
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    Cited by:

    1. IGARASHI Akira & MIWA Hirofumi & ONO Yoshikuni, 2022. "How Do Racial Cues Affect Attitudes toward Immigrants in a Racially Homogeneous Country? Evidence from a survey experiment in Japan," Discussion papers 22091, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Breznau, Nate & Kirkpatrick, L. Owen, 2018. "Urban Fiscal Crisis and Local Emergency Management: Tracking the Color Line in Michigan," OSF Preprints k9ve7, Center for Open Science.
    3. Miaari, Sami H. & Loewenthal, Amit & Adnan, Wifag, 2022. "Do Economic Changes Affect the Political Preferences of Arabs in Israel?," IZA Discussion Papers 14988, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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