Sarah Allen Gershon

When Race, Gender, and the Media Intersect: Campaign News Coverage of Minority Congresswomen

The news media often serves as an intermediary between elected officials and constituents, informing voters of the ways in which they are being represented. While the media plays a critical role in allowing representatives to communicate with constituents, previous research indicates that coverage of women and minority members of Congress may be unfavorable. Contrary to previous research, I find that being either a woman or a minority alone does not negatively impact coverage. However, faced with the “double barrier” of race and gender, minority congresswomen often receive more negative and less frequent media coverage than all other representatives.

Media Coverage of Minority Congresswomen and Voter Evaluations Evidence from an Online Experimental Study

Scholars of gender and race politics have long drawn links between the media’s less than favorable treatment of women and minorities, and these candidates’ struggles to curry favor with voters. However, few have examined minority women’s coverage. This multimethodological study examines the nature and implications of the media’s treatment of Anglo, Latina, and African American congresswomen. The results indicate significant differences in the content of these women’s media coverage and its influence on voters’ attitudes. The implications of these findings for Anglo and minority women campaigning for and holding elective office are discussed.

Christian America? Understanding the Link between Churches, Attitudes, and “Being American” among Latino Immigrants

In recent decades, Evangelical churches in the U.S. have expanded their outreach to Latino immigrants, seeking to incorporate these new Americans into their churches. We examine the implications of this movement by examining the impact of Evangelical and Catholic Church participation on Latino immigrant’s conceptions of what it means to be ‘fully American.’ Relying on the 2006 Latino National Survey, we find that church attendance significantly impacts immigrants’ attitudes towards American identity. Specifically, the results indicate that membership in Evangelical and Protestant churches increases the extent to which Latino immigrants believe Christianity to be a critical part of being American, while Catholic church membership has little effect. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings.

Patriotism and language loyalties: comparing Latino and Anglo attitudes toward English-Only legislation

Abstract This study examines the role patriotism plays in structuring Anglo and Latino attitudes towards making English the official language of the United States. We rely on pooled data from the 1997 and 1998 Los Angeles County Social Survey and use logistic regression to examine the impact of patriotism and other determinants on support for English-Only policies. The results indicate that Latinos and Anglos hold distinctly different views on English-Only policies, with significant numbers of Anglos supporting these policies, and Latinos largely opposing them. Patriotism, as well as other socio-demographic variables, differentially structure Latino and Anglos attitudes towards linguistic policies. Specifically, patriotism significantly increases Anglo support for English-Only policies, but exerts little impact on Latino attitudes in this regard.

INTERSECTIONAL PRESENTATIONS: An Exploratory Study of Minority Congresswomen’s Websites’ Biographies

In recent decades the number of women and minorities elected to public office has increased significantly, prompting a wealth of studies examining the ways these different gender and racial identities shape elected officials’ appeals to constituents. However, much previous research focuses on representational differences among either men and women or Anglos and minorities, neglecting the intersection of race and gender. We seek to fill this void by examining differences in presentation styles among Latina and African American congresswomen, their Anglo female counterparts, and minority male peers. Relying on a detailed content analysis of the biographical pages available on U.S. Representatives’ websites, we conduct an exploratory examination of the differences in representatives’ presentation of self. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative analysis, this paper identifies the unique ways minority congresswomen present themselves and issue positions to constituents. We conclude by considering the implications of our results for minority women holding and seeking public office.

Comparing the views of superdelegates and Democratic voters in the 2008 Democratic nomination campaign

The struggle for the power to nominate candidates for office between party elites and rank-and-file partisans surfaced in the late 1700s. The battle endures today and superdelegates in the Democratic Party represent the contemporary political elites in the nomination process. Indeed, superdelegates played a decisive role in determining the outcome of the 2008 Democratic nomination campaign. In this paper, we examine the attitudes and decisions of superdelegates towards the candidates and their own role in the nomination process. We also examine the attitudes of rank-and-file Democrats towards the delegates and the nomination process. To study these two groups, we rely on survey data collected immediately following the 2008 primary season. Results from the surveys indicate that voters and superdelegates differ greatly in their perceptions of superdelegates, their roles and decisions, as well as the legitimacy of the nomination process in the Democratic Party. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings.

Too Liberal to Win? Race and Voter Perceptions of Candidate Ideology:

Experimental research has long indicated that minority candidates are perceived as being more liberal than Whites. These expectations may hinder the electoral prospects of minority candidates campaigning for office who need the support of independents to win. Drawing upon a unique dataset of 933 informants (party delegates) and survey data from the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we investigate the accuracy and implications of these race-based stereotypes for voting in the U.S. House of Representatives. Our analysis indicates that ethnic and racial minority candidates for Congress are typically viewed by voters as being far more liberal than objective indicators would suggest. Moreover, we find that these misperceptions of ideological extremity may harm minorities’ electoral chances at the ballot box, limiting their support among White voters, particularly independents. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for candidates campaigning for office.

Examining intersectionality and symbolic representation

ABSTRACT This contribution highlights the need and benefits of a mixed methodological approach in intersectional studies of symbolic representation. Existing research concerning symbolic representation among traditionally marginalized groups such as women, racial and ethnic minorities focuses on the role either gender or race/ethnic identity plays in shaping symbolic forms of representation such as communication or presentation of self. However, extant literature tells us very little about the experiences of elected officials who are both women and racial and/or ethnic minorities, which are substantively different from those of either Anglo women or minority men. We will first argue for the benefits of an intersectional approach to studying symbolic representation in the U.S. that uses both quantitative and qualitative methods. Through the use of quantitative and qualitative content analysis in our own work, we were able to offer a more nuanced picture of how identity informs symbolic representation. As scholars with very different methodological training and different identities, we will detail the ways in which the practice of working together expanded our own understanding of how to identify and measure symbolic representation among diverse members of Congress.

God in the Barrio?: The Determinants of Religiosity and Civic Engagement among Latinos in the United States

It is often assumed that Latinos in the United States are deeply religious, and that this religious identity plays an important role in shaping their political beliefs and behaviors. A more controversial though unexplored proposition is that Latinos may not be as religious as is commonly believed and that forces beyond their religiosity play more prominent roles in shaping their political engagement. Relying on data from the 2006 Latino National Survey, we examine secularism — measured by church attendance — and civic engagement among Latinos. Our efforts are to analyze the social forces that shape levels of religiosity and find that generational status plays a significant role. Additionally, we further find that while church attendance declines among later generations, second and third generation Latinos have higher levels of civic engagement than their first generation peers, indicating that a decline in church participation does not depress political participation among later generations of Latinos.

The Road to Citizenship: What Naturalization Means for Immigrants in the United States. By Sofya Aptekar. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015. 190 pages.

The treatment of immigrants coming to the United States has long been a source of political controversy. Most recently, the 2016 Republican presidential primary race has highlighted immigration’s political relevance, with candidates disagreeing sharply over American policies concerning migrants. In response to these debates, scholars have turned their focus toward the pathways to citizenship for immigrants seeking full incorporation into the US political system. Sofya Aptekar’s The Road to Citizenship contributes significantly to this growing field, taking a unique empirical and theoretical approach to understanding the barriers standing in the way of citizenship, the reasons migrants seek to naturalize, and the messages they receive about their incorporation in the United States. This book, which relies on in-depth interviews, historical data, and content analysis, presents a clear picture of the naturalization experience in contemporary America. The Road to Citizenship begins by examining the process of naturalization in the United States, tracing the pathways and barriers to citizenship for different migrants. Chapter 1 explores the avenues to citizenship that exist in the US system and identifies which immigrants are eligible for naturalization as well as those who are systematically excluded from the process. Chapter 2 highlights institutional and individual-level hurdles which may dissuade some eligible migrants from pursuing full incorporation in America, focusing on the role of economic status, education, race, nation of origin, and other sociodemographic characteristics. These early chapters are comprehensive and clearly articulate the forces which create persistent inequalities in the pursuit of citizenship among immigrants to the United States. While instructive on their own, they also set the stage for the rest of the book, which focuses on migrants nearing the end of the naturalization process. In chapter 3, Aptekar utilizes indepth interviews with 72 immigrants who have just completed their citizenship tests. These open-ended interviews offer a rich description of the reasons immigrants pursue citizenship and their attitudes toward the United States. The data reveal a complex picture of naturalization, driven by concerns for security, family connections, settlement, and desires to participate fully in the US political system. The data presented in this chapter could serve as the foundation for future work in this field. For example, scholars could use these interviews to help frame research centered on topics such as immigrant identity and political engagement. One limitation, though, is that interviews focus only on immigrants who successfully completed the citizenship test. Planning to apply for citizenship and completing the process are different things (Gershon and Pantoja 2014). As Aptekar’s work demonstrates, becoming a citizen requires certain skills and resources. Therefore, we might expect those at the end of the process to be significantly different from those who have yet to undertake it. Inclusion of a more diverse sample of migrants (including those who have yet to begin the naturalization process) would have expanded the nuanced findings presented here and allowed for broader conclusions regarding the reasons for desiring citizenship. Nevertheless, the data presented in this chapter generate important new theoretical avenues for future research. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on citizenship ceremonies. As the author notes, these