Politics Still Struggles with Color

Yale researchers mailed letters to legislators with fictional names, asking for help in registering to vote. Some letters were signed with "black" names (e.g. DeShawn Jackson) and some with "white" names (e.g. Jake Mueller). Findings reveal that letters from "black" constituents received fewer responses from white legislators and received more responses from minority legislators. Also, the behavior crossed party lines. Whites from both parties behaved similarly - even when the letters indicated the constituent's party lines.

The Birther Beef

Research into "implicit social cognition" reveals that white Americans inherently regard white Europeans as more "American" than non-whites. This may help explain why so many believe President Obama is not a born American. In the study, white Americans actually thought white Europeans like Hugh Grant were more American than Asian-American Connie Chung. Similar research in 2008 found whites thought former British PM Tony Blair was more American than President Obama.

Racists Don't Like Capitalism

Arthur Brooks et al have argued that conservatives give much more to charity than liberals, especially charities meant to alleviate poverty. This makes sense because liberals endorse government provisions and conservatives endorse private provisions.

In a related topic, research found that racists tend to oppose free market capitalism. Racists also favor economic redistribution. Redistributionists were found to be 2-3 times more likely to be angry or sad (and twice as likely to be more angry than their counterparts) while anti-redistributionists were 2-4 times more likely to be happy or calm. Also, both "redistributionists and anti-capitalists expressed lower overall happiness, less happy marriages and lower satisfaction with their financial situations and with their jobs or housework.” Anti-redistributionists are more likely to behave altruistically and more likely to donate to charities - except that redistributionists were more likely to give to homeless people.

Politics ... Skin Deep

From Discover Magazine:

Researchers are making the case that a person’s political views cause them to see with a tinted perspective.

Scientists showed undergraduate students a series of digitally darkened or lightened photos of President Barack Obama last fall, and asked them which photos best represented him as a person ... while self-described liberals tended to pick the digitally lightened photos of the president, self-described conservative students more frequently picked the darkened images. The more one agrees with a politician, in other words, the lighter his skin tone seems; the less you agree, the darker it becomes [Newsweek].