Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has remained one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington and in public opinion. Almost a decade has passed since the ACA was enacted, it remains unclear how the public responds to this divergence. In this study, I reexamine the role of racial resentment towards Blacks and include racial resentment towards Latinxs and Immigrants into this analysis. This addition to the literature is essential since immigration policy has become highly polarized and racial divisions have been made more evident in contemporary politics. This study argues that racial resentment towards Latinxs and Immigrants fueled by contemporary politics has further polarized public opinion by racial attitudes and race. This hypothesis is tests individual-level dynamics in healthcare attitudes with a battery of questions on racial resentment in a survey conducted by the Center for Social Policy at the University of New Mexico (n=2000).