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American Politics Research, Vol. 31, No. 3, 251-279 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X03251197

Support For A Supreme Court Affirmative Action Decision

A Story in Black and White

Rosalee A. Clawson, ,

Eric N. Waltenburg, ,

Purdue University

Unlike other policy-making institutions that actively attempt to shape public opinion, the Supreme Court is largely dependent upon others to disseminate its policy pronouncements to the public. One consequence: How the media frame the Court’s actions can affect public support for Court policies. This article presents the results of an experiment designed to take soundings on the effect of different media frames on White and Black support for a controversial affirmative action ruling. Using stimuli we created based on coverage of the Adarand v. Pena (1995) decision in the Black press and the mainstream press, we find that media framing has a significant effect on agreement with the Court’s policy among White subjects. For Blacks, the impact of the media framing is moderated by ideological predispositions. In addition, both White and Black support for the Court’s ruling is influenced by the media portrayal of Justice Clarence Thomas.

Key Words: public opinion • Supreme Court legitimacy • race • mass media • Black press


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