Hoda Abdalla

Hoda Abdalla is a recipient of a 2022 CAPS Undergraduate Summer Thesis Research Grant. Her proposed thesis is entitled, “Black Southern Pressure: Understanding South Carolina Voting Behavior in Democratic Primaries.”

Proposal synopsis: Current Black Southern public policy attitudes are generally more conservative than those in other regions of the country, as Black Southerners tend to have a moderate to conservative-leaning within the Democratic party. What explains Black Southern candidate preferences in recent Democratic presidential primaries? In particular, what explains this traditionally progressive voting blocks support for the less progressive candidates?