We use data from the American National Election Study (ANES) collected between 1986 and 2020 to examine trends in colorblind frames, identifying cognitions that deny or downplay the persistence of racism. We use hierarchical age-period-cohort (HAPC) models to investigate whether ascription to colorblind frames varies across age, periods, and birth cohorts, examining period changes while controlling for changes in cohort composition. Following the Theory of Racial Ignorance’s (TRI) proposition that actors’ interests in promoting racial ignorance vary, we disaggregate our analyses by race and political affiliation. Our findings reveal little change across cohorts and small but substantial period changes. Specifically, our results show that colorblind frames increased during the Obama period and decreased in the Trump era. Separating trends by race and political affiliation, we observe that different groups drove the change observed in each period in a way aligned with the strategic interest of each group. These results reaffirm the value of TRI for understanding how the electoral cycle and key political events shape broad changes in racial ignorance frames.
AndersonAmy L.LytleRobertSchwadelPhilip. 2017. “Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Death Penalty Attitudes in the United States,1974-2014.” Criminology55:833–68.
2.
BellDerrick AJr.. 1980. “Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma.”Harvard Law Review93:518–33.
3.
BellAndrewJonesKelvyn. 2014. “Another ‘Futile Quest’? A Simulation Study of Yang and Land’s Hierarchical Age-period-cohort Model.” Demographic Research30:333–60.
4.
BlumerHerbert. 1958. “Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position.”The Pacific Sociological Review1:3–7.
5.
BoboLawrence D.2017. “Racism in Trump’s America: Reflections on Culture, Sociology, and the 2016 US Presidential Election.” British Journal of Sociology68:85–104.
6.
BoboLawrence D.CharlesCamille Z.KrysanMariaSimmonsAlicia D.2012. “The Real Record on Racial Attitudes.” Pp. 38–83 in Social Trends in American Life: Findings from the General Social Survey since 1972, edited by MartinA.GreenwoodT. K. J., CT: Praeger.
7.
BoboLawrenceKluegelJames R.SmithRyan A.1997. “Laissez‑Faire Racism: The Crystallization of a Kinder, Gentler, Antiblack Ideology.” Pp. 15–44 in Racial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, edited by TuchS. A.MartinJ. K.Westport, CT: Praeger.
8.
BoboLawrence D.HutchingsVincent L.1996. “Perceptions of Racial Group Competition: Extending Blumer’s Theory of Group Position to a Multiracial Social Context.” American Sociological Review61:6.
9.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 1997. “Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation.” American Sociological Review62:465–80.
10.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2015. “The Structure of Racism in Color-blind, ‘Post-racial’ America.” American Behavioral Scientist59:1358–76.
11.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2017. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. 5th ed.Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2019a. “‘Racists, ‘Class Anxieties,’ Hegemonic Racism, and Democracy in Trump’s America.” Social Currents6:14–31.
14.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2019b. “Toward a New Political Praxis for Trumpamerica: New Directions in Critical Race Theory.”American Behavioral Scientist63:1776–88.
15.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardoRayVictor. 2009. “When Whites Love a Black Leader: Race Matters in ‘Obamerica.’” Journal of African American Studies13:176–83.
16.
BuyukerBeyzaDursoAmanda JadidiFilindraAlexandraKaplanNoah J.2021. “Race Politics Research and the American Presidency: Thinking about White Attitudes, Identities and Vote Choice in the Trump Era and Beyond.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics6:600–41.
17.
CottomTressie McMillan. 2019. Thick: And Other Essays. New York: The New Press.
18.
DonahueSamuel Thomas. 2023. “The Politics of Police.” American Sociological Review88:656–80.
19.
DovidioJohn F.GaertnerSamuel L.2004. “Aversive Racism.” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology36:1–52.
20.
DrakulichKevinWozniakKevin H.HaganJohnJohnsonDevon. 2020. “Race and Policing in the 2016 Presidential Election: Black Lives Matter, the Police, and Dog Whistle Politics.” Criminology58:370–402.
21.
FieldsCorey D.2016. Black Elephants in the Room. Oakland, CA: UC Press.
22.
FrenkSteven M.YangYangLandKenneth C.2013. “Assessing the Significance of Cohort and Period Effects in Hierarchical Age-period-cohort Models: Applications to Verbal Test Scores and Voter Turnout in U.S. Presidential Elections.” Social Forces92:221–48.
23.
GaddiniKatie. 2023. “Defensive Racism and Christian Righteousness in the Time of Trump.” Women’s Studies International Forum101:102844.
24.
GaitherSarah E.WiltonLeigh S.YoungDanielle M.2014. “Perceiving a Presidency in Black (and White): Four Years Later.”Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy14:7–21.
25.
GillbornDavid. 2013. “Interest-divergence and the Colour of Cutbacks: Race, Recession and the Undeclared War on Black Children.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education34:477–91.
26.
HopkinsDaniel J.WashingtonSamantha. 2020. “The Rise of Trump, the Fall of Prejudice? Tracking White Americans’ Racial Attitudes via a Panel Survey, 2008-2018.” Public Opinion Quarterly84:119–40.
27.
HutchingsVincent L.2009. “Change or More of the Same? Evaluating Racial Attitudes in the Obama Era.” Public Opinion Quarterly73:917–42.
28.
JardinaAshley. 2021. “In-Group Love and Out-Group Hate: White Racial Attitudes in Contemporary U.S. Elections.”Political Behavior43:1535–59.
29.
JardinaAshleyOllerenshawTrent. 2022. “The Polls-Trends: The Polarization of White Racial Attitudes and Support for Racial Equality in the US.”Public Opinion Quarterly86:576–87.
30.
JayadevArjunJohnsonRobert. 2017. “Tides and Prejudice: Racial Attitudes during Downturns in the United States 1979–2014.” Review of Black Political Economy44:379–92.
31.
KaiserCheryl R.DruryBenjamin J.SpaldingKerry E.CheryanSapnaO’BrienLaurie T.2009. “The Ironic Consequences of Obama’s Election: Decreased Support for Social Justice.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology45:556–59.
32.
KellyCasey R.2020. “Donald J. Trump and the Rhetoric of White Ambivalence.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs23:195–223.
33.
KinderDonald R.Dale-RiddleAllison. 2012. The End of Race? Obama, 2008, and Racial Politics in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
34.
KnuckeyJonathanKimMyunghee. 2016. “Evaluations of Michelle Obama as First Lady: The Role of Racial Resentment.”Presidential Studies Quarterly46:365–86.
35.
LybargerJill E.MonteithMargo J.2011. “The Effect of Obama Saliency on Individual-level Racial Bias: Silver Bullet or Smokescreen?” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology47:647–52.
36.
MayorgaOscar J.2025. “Colorblindness and Free Market Ideologies as Racecraft.” Critical Sociology. Published electronically March25.
37.
McDermottMonika L.BelcherCornell. 2014. “Barack Obama and Americans’ Racial Attitudes: Rallying and Polarization.” Polity46:449–69.
38.
McGowenErnest B.WylieKristin N.2020. “Racialized Differences in Perceptions of and Emotional Responses to Police Killings of Unarmed African Americans.” Politics, Groups, and Identities8:396–406.
39.
MillsCharles W.2007. “White Ignorance.” Pp. 13–38 in Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, edited by SullivanS.TuanaN.Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
40.
MillsCharles W.2022. The Racial Contract. 25th Anniversary Ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
41.
MobergSarah PattonKrysanMariaChristiansonDeanna. 2019. “Racial Attitudes in America.” Public Opinion Quarterly83:450–71.
42.
MuellerJennifer C.2017. “Producing Colorblindness: Everyday Mechanisms of White Ignorance.” Social Problems64:219–38.
43.
MuellerJennifer C.2020. “Racial Ideology or Racial Ignorance? An Alternative Theory of Racial Cognition.” Sociological Theory38:142–69.
44.
MuellerJennifer C.2022. “‘Imagine an Ignorance That Fights Back’: Honoring Charles Mills, Our Inheritance and Charge.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity8:443–50.
45.
MuellerJennifer C.WashingtonAnna K.2022. “Anticipating White Futures: The Ends-based Orientation of White Thinking.” Symbolic Interaction45:3–26.
46.
NorrisPippaInglehartRonald. 2019. Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit, and Authoritarian Populism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
47.
NtetaTatishe M.GreenleeJill S.2013. “A Change Is Gonna Come: Generational Membership and White Racial Attitudes in the 21st Century.” Political Psychology34:877–97.
48.
PasekJoshStarkTobias H.KrosnickJon A.TompsonTrevorPayneB. Keith. 2014. “Attitudes toward Blacks in the Obama Era.” Public Opinion Quarterly78:276–302.
49.
PetersGerhardWoolleyJohn T.2020. Trump Campaign Press Release–President Trump Releases the Platinum Plan for Black Americans: Opportunity, Security, Prosperity, and Fairness. Santa Barbara, CA: The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara.
50.
PickettJustin T.GrahamAmandaCullenFrancis T.2022. “The American Racial Divide in Fear of the Police.” Criminology60:291–320.
51.
PimentelCharise. 2019. “Colorblind Racism, the Trump Effect, and the Blind Side.” Pp. 113–39 in The Myth of Colorblindness: Race and Ethnicity in American Cinema, edited by TurnerS. E.NilsenS.Cham: Springer International Publishing.
52.
PlantE. AshbyDevinePatricia G.CoxWilliam T. LColumbCoreyMillerSaul L.GoplenJoannaPerucheB. Michelle. 2009. “The Obama Effect: Decreasing Implicit Prejudice and Stereotyping.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology45:961–64.
53.
RayVictor. 2018. “A Sociological Note to the Political Elite.” Contexts17:20–21.
54.
RayVictor. 2021. “Racialized Organizations and the Interest Divergence Dilemma.” Sociological Forum36:1295–315.
55.
ReitherEric N.MastersRyan K.YangYangPowersDaniel A.ZhengHuiLandKenneth C.2015. “Should Age-period-cohort Studies Return to the Methodologies of the 1970s?” Social Science & Medicine128:356–65.
56.
RuischBenjamin C.FergusonMelissa J.2022. “Changes in Americans’ Prejudices during the Presidency of Donald Trump.” Nature Human Behaviour6:656–65.
57.
SchmidtKathleenAxtJordan R.2016. “Implicit and Explicit Attitudes toward African Americans and Barack Obama Did Not Substantively Change during Obama’s Presidency.” Social Cognition34:559–88.
58.
SearsDavid O.HenryP. J.2003. “The Origins of Symbolic Racism.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology85:259–75.
59.
ShaferJessica Gantt.2017. “Donald Trump’s ‘Political Incorrectness’: Neoliberalism as Frontstage Racism on Social Media.” Social Media and Society3:205630511773322.
60.
ShiLuziLuYunmeiPickettJustin T.2020. “The Public Salience of Crime, 1960–2014: Age–Period–Cohort and Time‑Series Analyses.” Criminology58(1):66–100.
61.
SimmonsAlicia D.BoboLawrence D.2018. “Understanding No Special Favors: A Quantitative and Qualitative Mapping of the Meaning of Responses to the Racial Resentment Scale.” Du Bois Review15:323–52.
62.
StarckJordan G.HurdKyneshawauPerezMichael J.MarshburnChristopher K.2024. “Interest Convergence and the Maintenance of Racial Advantage: The Case of Diversity in Higher Education.” Journal of Social Issues80:272–307.
63.
TarmanChristopherSearsDavid O.2005. “The Conceptualization and Measurement of Symbolic Racism.” Journal of Politics67:731–61.
64.
TeslerMichael. 2016. Post-racial or Most-racial? Race and Politics in the Obama Era. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
65.
TolbertCaroline J.RedlawskDavid P.GraceyKellen J.2018. “Racial Attitudes and Emotional Responses to the 2016 Republican Candidates.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties28:245–62.
66.
UnneverJames D.GabbidonShaun L.HigginsGeorge E.2011. “The Election of Barack Obama and Perceptions of Criminal Injustice.” Justice Quarterly28:23–45.
67.
ValentinoNicholas A.BraderTed. 2011. “The Sword’s Other Edge: Perceptions of Discrimination and Racial Policy Opinion after Obama.” Public Opinion Quarterly75:201–26.
68.
ValentinoNicholas A.NeunerFabian G.VandenbroekL. Matthew. 2018. “The Changing Norms of Racial Political Rhetoric and the End of Racial Priming.” The Journal of Politics80:757.
69.
WelchSusanSigelmanLee. 2011. “The ‘Obama Effect’ and White Racial Attitudes.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science634:207–20.
70.
WiseTim. 2020. Dispatches from the Race War. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Publishers.
71.
YangYang. 2008. “Social Inequalities in Happiness in the United States, 1972 to 2004: An Age-period Analysis.” American Sociological Review73:204–26.
72.
YangYangLandKenneth C.2006. “A Mixed Models Approach to Age-period-cohort Analysis of Repeated Cross-section Surveys: Trends in Verbal Test Scores.” Sociological Methodology36:75–97.
73.
YangYangLandKenneth C.2013. Age-period-cohort Analysis: New Models, Methods, and Empirical Applications. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman and Hall.
74.
ZhirkovKirillValentinoNicholas A.2022. “The Origins and Consequences of Racialized Schemas about U.S. Parties.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics7:484–504.
