Replication Data for: Race and Symbolic Politics in the U.S. Congress

Politics is often symbolic. In recent years, officials have attempted to invoke symbols of African Americans' struggle for civil rights to justify their preferred policies, from a Trump impeachment acquittal, to the banning of critical race theory in classrooms. In this piece, we provide an overview of ongoing research into the invocation of civil rights symbolism in the U.S. Congress. Our research uncovers that Black and white MCs discuss civil rights at vastly different rates, and Black MCs are significantly more likely to invoke symbolism when doing so. Not only do Black and white lawmakers invoke symbols differently, but this rhetoric matters to Black voters. Using a survey experiment fielded on Qualtrics, we find that Black respondents, on average, provided the most favorable evaluations of white representatives when they gave a speech on civil rights that invoked symbols of the Civil Rights Movement. When those same symbols were used outside the domain of civil rights, however, white representatives received a significant punishment. This suggests that when such symbols are mis-used, they may actually further erode evaluations of those who might misappropriate important symbols of the struggle for personal or political gain.