Political Ideology and Perceived Racial Discrimination Across Race Groups

Introduction Relationships between political ideology and perceptions of racial discrimination likely vary by race group because of each group's unique history and racialization in US society. Prior work has considered associations between political ideology and perceived racial discrimination primarily among White Americans or has focused on perceptions of more general, group‐level discrimination. Perceptions of personal racial discrimination have received far less attention. Methods Using data from a YouGov survey of 4000 US residents, equally divided among White, Asian, Hispanic, and Black groups, we investigate whether and how political ideology relates to perceived personal racial discrimination in each race group. Results We find White conservatives more likely, and Asian and Hispanic conservatives less likely, than their liberal counterparts to perceive themselves as personally victimized by racial discrimination. We find no association between political ideology and such perceptions among Black participants. Conclusion These findings illustrate the relevance of political ideology to perceived racial discrimination with differences across the US racial hierarchy, laying a foundation for future work to consider how race conditions the connection between personal ideological commitments and perceptions of racial discrimination.