Racial Disparities in Public Meeting Participation? Examining Past Evidence and Nationally Representative Data

Abstract

Are there racial/ethnic disparities in local public meeting participation? To date, very few studies investigating this question centrally or peripherally have relied on nationally representative data. Thus, in this research note, I discuss some of the limitations associated with previous studies that have examined the characteristics of public meeting participants. More importantly, I analyze data provided by the American National Election Studies (ANES) to investigate the extent to which group disparities, especially racial/ethnic disparities, exist in public meeting participation. The analysis of pooled data from the ANES does not reveal, on a general level, racial/ethnic group differences in public meeting participation, but it does suggest that such differences may exist among the economically vulnerable. I conclude with proposals of how to move forward with conducting research on public meeting participation.