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R. MICHAEL ALVAREZ
California Institute of Technology
LISA GARCÍA BEDOLLA
University of California, Irvine
The Revolution
against Affirmative Action in California: Racism, Economics, and Proposition
209
In 1996, California
voters approved Proposition 209, which banned the use of affirmative action
in state hiring, contracting, and public university admissions. We know
that white voters favored Proposition 209 more than nonwhite voters--the
question is, why? Did they feel that the racial preferences given to growing
numbers of members of racial and ethnic groups threatened them economically,
or were they just motivated by old-fashioned racism? We test these two possible
explanations--economic anxiety and racial division--for the appeal of Proposition
209 to California voters using exit poll data. We find little support for
the economic anxiety explanation. Instead, racial division seems to be the
best way to understand white voting on Proposition 209.
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