One thought on the conclusion, that: "racial issues became much more important, and people became persistently more liberal on race and persistently likelier to support liberal politics. Exactly why, other than 2020 BLM’s enormous salience in social and traditional media, is unclear." This seems to line up with the idea that short-term and medium-term political changes come mostly from issue salience. Protests don't change opinions, but if covered in the news, can change what people are thinking about. Hence why anti-Trump protests probably didn't change many minds, because he already dominated the conversation.
One thought on the conclusion, that: "racial issues became much more important, and people became persistently more liberal on race and persistently likelier to support liberal politics. Exactly why, other than 2020 BLM’s enormous salience in social and traditional media, is unclear." This seems to line up with the idea that short-term and medium-term political changes come mostly from issue salience. Protests don't change opinions, but if covered in the news, can change what people are thinking about. Hence why anti-Trump protests probably didn't change many minds, because he already dominated the conversation.