Alternative spheres of influence: The impact of divergent political elites on the racial divide in American public opinion.

Abstract

Moving beyond other scholars' focus on the relationship between political predispositions and black and white differences in opinion on policies, I develop a theoretical framework that considers the effects of groups' exposure to differing elite interpretations of political issues. Specifically, I argue that in an attempt to advance their own interests and ideologies among their respective racial constituencies, African-American elites---including black elected officials, journalists, and religious and organizational leaders---and mainstream elites---those elites who are able to dominate mainstream discourse---frame political issues, even issues with no apparent racial content, in substantively different ways. Through analysis of both survey and experimental data, I demonstrate that these framing differences imply that African Americans' exposure to messages from their own indigenous political elites, as delivered through black institutions, and white Americans' lack of exposure to this alternative elite discourse, help explain many of the differences researchers have observed in black and white public opinion.