This research examines the effects of party competence perceptions on African–Americans’ party identification. Using ordinary least squares regression to analyse data taken from the 1996 National Black Election Study, I regress African–Americans’ party identification and feeling thermometers for Democrats and Republicans on items that measure African–American assessments of the political parties’ ability to handle certain issues. The results indicate that those matters of race and economics influence party identification. Moreover, party competence perceptions influence partisanship more than party identification. Unlike the literature suggesting that individual factors are not significant, I find that individual life circumstances do influence African–Americans’ party identification.