Reformulating and Reassessing Solidarity’s Downstream Effects: New Panel Evidence on People of Color During the 2024 Presidential Campaign

Mounting evidence shows that shared identity among people of color (PoC) heightens inter-minority solidarity, which yields downstream support for pro-Black (affirmative action), pro-Latino (undocumented immigration), and pro-Asian (high-skill immigration) policies. Previous research detects this mediation pattern in one-shot experiments. This paper evaluates solidarity’s downstream consequences in real-life politics by leveraging longitudinal data spanning the 2024 US presidential campaign. By reformulating solidarity as a developmental process, we reassess its influence in a unique three-wave panel of Asian, Black, Latino, and Multiracial adults ( N = 3,402). We found that across groups, shared PoC identity (Wave 1) significantly increased inter-minority solidarity (Wave 2), which then boosted support for pro-Black and pro-Latino policies—but not pro-Asian policy (Wave 3). This pathway is robust to controls for potential confounds. We also found support for our hypothesized causal direction from PoC identity to PoC solidarity to support for pro-PoC policies (versus a reverse pattern).