There is a whole new dynamic that pundits, campaign managers, and voters will be negotiating in American politics, and the starting gun has already been fired.

That is, the complicated — so says the research — dynamic of how voters regard multiracial candidates. On the national stage, it began with Barack Obama, and continues in this election cycle with Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.

The research of a 2017 UC Riverside doctoral graduate sheds light on a 2020 election historic in that the first biracial woman is running for vice president. Danielle Lemi is writing a book, sharing what researchers know about how voters respond to multiracial candidates.

Multiracial identification is a relatively new field of study in political science. 

“We have not had much of history to go by, at least for the office of president and vice president,” said Augustine Kposowa, a UCR professor of sociology, who conducted the research with Lemi that provided background for her findings. Among their publications is the article, "Are Asian Americans who have Interracial Relationships Politically Distinct?" published in 2017 in DuBois Review. 

READ MORE HERE