How People of Color Respond to Narratives of Rising Diversity

The U.S. is undergoing a historic demographic shift as, collectively, Asian, Black, Latino, multiracial, and other people of color are projected to become the numerical majority. To date, most social science research has employed controlled experiments to study the response of non-Hispanic Whites to this projected change. This project will center people of color and take advantage of a natural experiment—the release of new census projections in 2023—to understand the effects of real-world exposure to racial projections on public opinion. To evaluate the nature and effects of media narratives of rising diversity, communications scholar Seth Goldman and an interdisciplinary team of political scientists and social psychologists will employ a content analysis of media narratives and a three-wave nationally representative panel survey. The YouGov survey will track changes in the perceptions, attitudes, and identities of large samples of Asians, Blacks, Latinos, multiracials, and Whites, with oversamples of Republicans within each racial and ethnic group.