Constructing Political Reality in Black And White : Racial Differences in Perceptions of Super Tuesday / James R. Walker and Others.

A study examined the perceptions of black and white voters in the 1988 Southern Regional presidential primary (labeled "Super Tuesday") to determine whether or not discernible racial differences exist in the use and impact of political information. Data were gathered by trained interviewers from 678 randomly selected primary-aware respondents in Birmingham, Memphis, and statewide Arkansas. Results revealed that blacks and whites both saw Super Tuesday as important and perceived greater media coverage of the event. Whites high in exposure to newspaper coverage were more likely than whites with low newspaper exposure to perceive the primary as increasing the importance of the South in the nominating process. Blacks high in newspaper exposure were more likely than blacks low in newspaper exposure to perceive increased coverage of Southern primaries by the news media. Likewise, blacks with high levels of interpersonal communication about the campaign were more likely than blacks who talked less about the campaign to perceive higher levels of news media coverage. Additionally, the differences in the relationship between newspaper exposure for white and blacks suggests that blacks are not convinced by white-controlled newspapers about judgmental matters such as the effect of a primary but are convinced about levels of media activity. (Two tables of data are included; 33 references are attached.) (KEH)

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