KPBS Midday Edition

Race Dominant Factor In Shaping US Elections: UCSD Professor

By Jade Hindmon / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host

Published February 11, 2020 at 9:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

Cover of "Dangerously Divided: How Race and Class Shape Winning and Losing In American Politics" by Zoltan Hajnal. Feb. 4, 2020.

After the 2016 presidential election, many political analysts pointed to class as the driving force that led to President Trump's victory.

But a new book suggests race, not class, is the dominant factor shaping who wins and loses elections in the U.S.

"Overwhelmingly, two-thirds or more of racial and ethnic minorities are on one side not just in 2016 and 2018... and then on the other side you have 60-65% of whites voting Republican. There really isn't a demographic divide that comes close to that," said Zoltan Hajnal, UC San Diego political science professor and author of the book "Dangerously Divided."

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Hajnal joined Midday Edition on Tuesday to discuss his research and some of the consequences of a racially divided country.

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Jade Hindmon

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Jade Hindmon is KPBS Midday Edition co-host. Prior to making San Diego home, Jade worked in markets across the Southeast and Midwest, building a network of sources to tell the stories of people in each community. She worked as a multimedia journalist and anchor at WRTV in Indianapolis. While there, she launched “The Weekend Edition of Good Morning Indiana” and generated breaking news content for both broadcast and digital platforms. Prior to Indianapolis, she was an anchor and multimedia journalist at FOX Carolina in Greenville, SC. As part of that Emmy Award winning team, she covered elections, landed exclusive interviews, and interviewed presidential candidates. Jade also had the opportunity to cover international news and was able to travel to South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. Jade is a three-time Emmy nominee, a National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Finalist, and the recipient of a South Carolina Associated Press Award. She is a proud graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

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