Reluctant Donors: African Americans, Campaign Contributors, and the Obama Effect—or Lack of It

摘要

Conventional wisdom indicates that African Americans contribute few dollars to federal candidates running for office. This happens even though their overall political participation is on par with white Americans, relative to differences in education and income. With the rise of Barack Obama, an African American, it seems logical that African American donations would increase. I analyzed locational and federal campaign donation data to investigate this question, concluding that donations from Blacks did not increase in 2008; indeed, they actually declined in 2008 compared to 2006 and 2004. This article investigates this phenomenon and suggests reasons why it was so.