Racial Resentment and Targeted Anger at Barack Obama and the Federal Government

Abstract

We use a survey experiment embedded in the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) to examine the extent to which anger towards the federal government and President Barack Obama are affected by racial resentment. We randomized two questions asking CCES respondents their personal anger at the Obama and the federal, and their anger at the actions of Obama and the federal government. While media accounts suggested the American public was extremely “angry” during the first years of the Obama administration, we find significantly more anger targeted at government and its actions than Obama and his actions. However, racial resentment colored personal anger toward Obama but not personal anger at the federal government. Resentment affected anger at the actions of both Obama and the federal government. These results suggest that angry sentiments toward Obama and his actions, as well as the actions of the federal government while he is the commander-in-chief, are all affected by racial attitudes.

Keywords: Racial Resentment, Anger, Barack Obama, Emotions