ABSTRACT
What's Going On? Political Incorporation and the Transformation of Black Public Opinion by Katherine Tate is an intriguing work drawing together more than thirty years of public opinion data from a variety of sources. Tate examines Black public opinion on a number of issues that have defined the political landscape for decades, including: welfare reform, crime, government support for Blacks and minorities, education policies, immigration, and US foreign policy. Tate's theoretical framework builds on Adolph Reed's notion that the Black community has witnessed a shift from leaders with activist backgrounds to leaders who have spent the bulk of their careers in political office. While the author clearly indicates various shifts in Black public opinion, the regression models that she employs in an attempt to prove her thesis are limited in their results and inferential potential. In general, Tate found that African American opinion on immigration mirrored the views of Whites, with Blacks being slightly more liberal in many instances.
