Black women have been voting at rates above 85% in presidential elections since 1972 which begs the question: what have they seen that others have not? Building on applied standpoint epistemology theory, Black women’s acceptance of a presidential candidate is examined as a leading indicator of the polarization of presidential approval. Polarization is defined as the mean difference between presidential approval and disapproval ratings over the course of a presidential term. The results of this analysis found that presidents who gained the support of Black women as candidates were less polarizing than presidents who did not receive this support. Political scientists are in need of these kinds of strong leading indicators to make predictions about political outcomes.
