Direct Democracy and Political Awareness: How Identity Shapes Knowledge of Carceral and Anti-Immigrant Ballot Measures

Who knows what about American politics? Traditional measures of political knowledge demonstrate a persistent “racial gap” with whites demonstrating higher levels than people of color. Recent scholarship has shown that this gap narrows or disappears when people are asked questions that have greater relevance to their racial or ethnic group. I contribute to this scholarship by examining the relationship between identity, political awareness, and direct democracy. I argue that identity shapes political awareness when ballot measures are perceived to be threatening or directly impacting one’s group. Using 21 Field Poll surveys in California between 1994 and 1998, I demonstrate the presence of a political awareness racial gap for traditional ballot measures but show that it disappears for carceral and anti-immigrant initiatives. My findings have implications for how political behavior will be shaped by a political environment where immigration and mass incarceration are increasingly intertwined.