Michael S Rocca
Biographic Data
| ID | 4123328 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael S Rocca |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael S |
| FAMILY NAME | Rocca |
| SIGNATURE | ROCCA M S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of New Mexico |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2765-0260 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 264 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Demographic Shifts and Public Attitudes Toward the January 6th Attack
This paper examines the impact of demographic change on political perceptions, specifically attitudes toward the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Utilizing data from the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, we explore how changes in county-level nonwhite populations influence whether individuals label the event as a protest or an insurrection. Our findings reveal a curvilinear relationship: respondents in counties with mode…
A Tale of Two Kingdoms: State‐Level Political Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility
Objective This research note explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the political environment, focusing on the impact of state‐level political determinants on Fortune 500 companies' CSR ratings. Method We conduct OLS regression on 485 Fortune 500 companies’ 2020 CSRHub ratings, with standard errors clustered by state. Key independent variables include state partisanship and partisan control of state government…
Re-examining the relationship between Latino population size and position taking on Latino interests in the US House of Representatives
In contrast to strong evidence that increases in district-level African American population size leads to greater support of African American issues in Congress, 40 years of research has been decidedly mixed on whether increases in district-level Latino population size translate to greater support of Latino issues. This paper provides an update to this literature by analyzing members’ of Congress (MCs) support of Latino issues through roll call v…
Allocating Unlimited Money: What Explains Super PAC Spending in Congressional Elections
How do Super PACs allocate their resources? The question is both timely and relevant, particularly as we reflect on the ten-year anniversary of the Citizens United ruling. Super PACs now outspend – sometimes by huge margins, as in the 2016 presidential election – all other groups’ independent expenditures including those of parties, unions, and 501(c) organizations. The issue is especially important in congressional politics, where Super PACs hav…
The Impact of Citizens United on Large Corporations and Their Employees
The goal of this research is to determine whether the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling changed the contribution strategies of employees of major corporations. Using an original dataset of campaign contributions by employees of Fortune 500 companies, we analyze the contribution strategies of these individuals in the 2008 and 2012 presidential election cycles. Overall, our results suggest three important conclusions. First, Citi…
The Effects of Citizens United on Corporate Spending in the 2012 Presidential Election
The 2012 presidential election saw a 594% increase in independent expenditures from the 2008 election ($144 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2012), leaving little doubt that the Supreme Court's landmark 2010 Citizens United decision opened the campaign spending floodgates. To what extent are corporations, the main subject of the ruling, the source of the increase? We argue that while Citizens alters the ability of corporations to spend on campaig…
Earmarks as a Means and an End: The Link between Earmarks and Campaign Contributions in the U.S. House of Representatives
Legislative earmarks have taken center stage in the popular press in recent years as journalists, pundits, the president, and, sometimes, even legislators themselves question the economic, representational, and general policy implications of this type of federal spending. Some scholars suggest that legislators garner either direct or indirect electoral benefits from this behavior, but empirical findings are mixed. In this article, we place this d…
The Institutional Mobility of Minority Members of Congress
This article examines the extent to which race and ethnicity affect mobility to leadership positions within Congress. The authors utilize survival analysis to examine the rate at which legislators attained committee leadership positions between the 101st and 108th Congresses. The results show that black legislators attain leadership positions faster than white legislators. This may be because of the tendency for black members of Congress (MCs) to…
The Position-taking Value of Bill Sponsorship in Congress
What is the value of non—roll call position taking in Congress? The authors argue that non—roll call positions are used by interest groups to acquire information about the direction and intensity of legislators’ preferences. Legislators, in turn, use them to attract campaign contributions from potential donors. Examining bill sponsorship in the 103rd and 104th Congresses, the authors find a relationship between campaign contributions from labor a…
The Role of Personal Attributes in African American Roll-Call Voting Behavior in Congress
In this research note, the authors explore the extent to which personal attributes influence voting behavior for African American members of Congress. The authors test the relationship between legislators' personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW-NOMINATE scores for black members of the 101st to 108th Congresses. The results suggest that personal attributes matter. They increase the explained variance in the models, and factors such as ge…
And Presidential Support in the 107th Congress
Immediately following the tragic events of 9/11, President George W. Bush's approval rating shot from 51% to 86%; a record 35-point rally effect according to the Gallup Poll. President Bush set another record on September 24th, 2001, as 90% of Americans approved of his performance. If public support is indeed an important president's legislative resource, President Bush should have been his most influential during his record rally. To get a sense…
Congress and Foreign Policy: Congressional Action on the Darfur Genocide
As of January 2008, more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced in the regions of Darfur and Chad. This event has not gone unnoticed in the United States, as the 109th United States Congress (2005–2006) considered several measures in the House of Representatives to provide funding and peacekeeping forces to quell the violence in Darfur. The goal of this article is to explain individual members' o…
Personal Attributes and Latino Voting Behavior in Congress
Objective. Researchers have long examined the nature of representation, paying particular attention to the dynamics of descriptive and substantive representation in racial and ethnic communities. The objective of this article is to determine the extent to which personal attributes influence the voting behavior of Latino members of Congress. Methods. We test the relationship between legislator's personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW‐NOM…
The Effect of Race and Ethnicity on Bill Sponsorship and Cosponsorship in Congress
This article examines Black and Latino legislators' use of bill sponsorship and cosponsorship in Congress. As we explain, sponsoring and cosponsoring legislation are unique in that they are among the few activities outside the roll call arena that have both position taking and policy implications. We hypothesize that given minority legislators' lack of influence in Congress, they sponsor and cosponsor fewer bills than do nonminorities. We find su…
Nonlegislative Debate in the U.S. House of Representatives
To date, most empirical analyses of position taking in Congress have focused on roll call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking outside the domain of roll call voting. This article takes a closer look at who utilizes one popular non–roll call forum in the House of Representatives—nonlegislative debate (NLD)—and why. The analysis expands on …
Beyond the Roll-Call Arena: The Determinants of Position Taking in Congress
Beyond the Roll-Call Arena: The Determinants of Position Taking in Congress
Most analyses of position taking in Congress focus on roll-call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking beyond the domain of rollcall voting. However, analyzing non-roll-call position taking raises interesting theoretical questions. Whereas most members cannot avoid taking positions (casting votes) on roll calls, outside the roll-call arena M…
Military Base Closures and the 1996 Congressional Elections
This article examines the extent to which changes in distributional benefits influence congressional election outcomes. Although conventional wisdom holds that a direct link exists between distributional benefits and electoral outcomes (Mayhew 1974b), recent evidence suggests that this link only exists under certain circumstances (Stein and Bickers 1994). In this article, I use 1995 military base closures to test the nature of the relationship. C…
The Position-taking Value of Bill Sponsorship in Congress
What is the value of non—roll call position taking in Congress? The authors argue that non—roll call positions are used by interest groups to acquire information about the direction and intensity of legislators’ preferences. Legislators, in turn, use them to attract campaign contributions from potential donors. Examining bill sponsorship in the 103rd and 104th Congresses, the authors find a relationship between campaign contributions from labor a…
Beyond the Roll-Call Arena: The Determinants of Position Taking in Congress
Most analyses of position taking in Congress focus on roll-call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking beyond the domain of rollcall voting. However, analyzing non-roll-call position taking raises interesting theoretical questions. Whereas most members cannot avoid taking positions (casting votes) on roll calls, outside the roll-call arena M…
The Effect of Race and Ethnicity on Bill Sponsorship and Cosponsorship in Congress
This article examines Black and Latino legislators' use of bill sponsorship and cosponsorship in Congress. As we explain, sponsoring and cosponsoring legislation are unique in that they are among the few activities outside the roll call arena that have both position taking and policy implications. We hypothesize that given minority legislators' lack of influence in Congress, they sponsor and cosponsor fewer bills than do nonminorities. We find su…
Nonlegislative Debate in the U.S. House of Representatives
To date, most empirical analyses of position taking in Congress have focused on roll call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking outside the domain of roll call voting. This article takes a closer look at who utilizes one popular non–roll call forum in the House of Representatives—nonlegislative debate (NLD)—and why. The analysis expands on …
Earmarks as a Means and an End: The Link between Earmarks and Campaign Contributions in the U.S. House of Representatives
Legislative earmarks have taken center stage in the popular press in recent years as journalists, pundits, the president, and, sometimes, even legislators themselves question the economic, representational, and general policy implications of this type of federal spending. Some scholars suggest that legislators garner either direct or indirect electoral benefits from this behavior, but empirical findings are mixed. In this article, we place this d…
The Effects of Citizens United on Corporate Spending in the 2012 Presidential Election
The 2012 presidential election saw a 594% increase in independent expenditures from the 2008 election ($144 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2012), leaving little doubt that the Supreme Court's landmark 2010 Citizens United decision opened the campaign spending floodgates. To what extent are corporations, the main subject of the ruling, the source of the increase? We argue that while Citizens alters the ability of corporations to spend on campaig…
Personal Attributes and Latino Voting Behavior in Congress
Objective. Researchers have long examined the nature of representation, paying particular attention to the dynamics of descriptive and substantive representation in racial and ethnic communities. The objective of this article is to determine the extent to which personal attributes influence the voting behavior of Latino members of Congress. Methods. We test the relationship between legislator's personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW‐NOM…
Military Base Closures and the 1996 Congressional Elections
This article examines the extent to which changes in distributional benefits influence congressional election outcomes. Although conventional wisdom holds that a direct link exists between distributional benefits and electoral outcomes (Mayhew 1974b), recent evidence suggests that this link only exists under certain circumstances (Stein and Bickers 1994). In this article, I use 1995 military base closures to test the nature of the relationship. C…
The Institutional Mobility of Minority Members of Congress
This article examines the extent to which race and ethnicity affect mobility to leadership positions within Congress. The authors utilize survival analysis to examine the rate at which legislators attained committee leadership positions between the 101st and 108th Congresses. The results show that black legislators attain leadership positions faster than white legislators. This may be because of the tendency for black members of Congress (MCs) to…
Congress and Foreign Policy: Congressional Action on the Darfur Genocide
As of January 2008, more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced in the regions of Darfur and Chad. This event has not gone unnoticed in the United States, as the 109th United States Congress (2005–2006) considered several measures in the House of Representatives to provide funding and peacekeeping forces to quell the violence in Darfur. The goal of this article is to explain individual members' o…
The Role of Personal Attributes in African American Roll-Call Voting Behavior in Congress
In this research note, the authors explore the extent to which personal attributes influence voting behavior for African American members of Congress. The authors test the relationship between legislators' personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW-NOMINATE scores for black members of the 101st to 108th Congresses. The results suggest that personal attributes matter. They increase the explained variance in the models, and factors such as ge…
The Impact of Citizens United on Large Corporations and Their Employees
The goal of this research is to determine whether the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling changed the contribution strategies of employees of major corporations. Using an original dataset of campaign contributions by employees of Fortune 500 companies, we analyze the contribution strategies of these individuals in the 2008 and 2012 presidential election cycles. Overall, our results suggest three important conclusions. First, Citi…
A Tale of Two Kingdoms: State‐Level Political Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility
Objective This research note explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the political environment, focusing on the impact of state‐level political determinants on Fortune 500 companies' CSR ratings. Method We conduct OLS regression on 485 Fortune 500 companies’ 2020 CSRHub ratings, with standard errors clustered by state. Key independent variables include state partisanship and partisan control of state government…
Re-examining the relationship between Latino population size and position taking on Latino interests in the US House of Representatives
In contrast to strong evidence that increases in district-level African American population size leads to greater support of African American issues in Congress, 40 years of research has been decidedly mixed on whether increases in district-level Latino population size translate to greater support of Latino issues. This paper provides an update to this literature by analyzing members’ of Congress (MCs) support of Latino issues through roll call v…
And Presidential Support in the 107th Congress
Immediately following the tragic events of 9/11, President George W. Bush's approval rating shot from 51% to 86%; a record 35-point rally effect according to the Gallup Poll. President Bush set another record on September 24th, 2001, as 90% of Americans approved of his performance. If public support is indeed an important president's legislative resource, President Bush should have been his most influential during his record rally. To get a sense…
Military Base Closures and the 1996 Congressional Elections
This article examines the extent to which changes in distributional benefits influence congressional election outcomes. Although conventional wisdom holds that a direct link exists between distributional benefits and electoral outcomes (Mayhew 1974b), recent evidence suggests that this link only exists under certain circumstances (Stein and Bickers 1994). In this article, I use 1995 military base closures to test the nature of the relationship. C…
Beyond the Roll-Call Arena: The Determinants of Position Taking in Congress
Beyond the Roll-Call Arena: The Determinants of Position Taking in Congress
Most analyses of position taking in Congress focus on roll-call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking beyond the domain of rollcall voting. However, analyzing non-roll-call position taking raises interesting theoretical questions. Whereas most members cannot avoid taking positions (casting votes) on roll calls, outside the roll-call arena M…
Nonlegislative Debate in the U.S. House of Representatives
To date, most empirical analyses of position taking in Congress have focused on roll call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking outside the domain of roll call voting. This article takes a closer look at who utilizes one popular non–roll call forum in the House of Representatives—nonlegislative debate (NLD)—and why. The analysis expands on …
Personal Attributes and Latino Voting Behavior in Congress
Objective. Researchers have long examined the nature of representation, paying particular attention to the dynamics of descriptive and substantive representation in racial and ethnic communities. The objective of this article is to determine the extent to which personal attributes influence the voting behavior of Latino members of Congress. Methods. We test the relationship between legislator's personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW‐NOM…
The Effect of Race and Ethnicity on Bill Sponsorship and Cosponsorship in Congress
This article examines Black and Latino legislators' use of bill sponsorship and cosponsorship in Congress. As we explain, sponsoring and cosponsoring legislation are unique in that they are among the few activities outside the roll call arena that have both position taking and policy implications. We hypothesize that given minority legislators' lack of influence in Congress, they sponsor and cosponsor fewer bills than do nonminorities. We find su…
The Role of Personal Attributes in African American Roll-Call Voting Behavior in Congress
In this research note, the authors explore the extent to which personal attributes influence voting behavior for African American members of Congress. The authors test the relationship between legislators' personal attributes and Poole and Rosenthal's DW-NOMINATE scores for black members of the 101st to 108th Congresses. The results suggest that personal attributes matter. They increase the explained variance in the models, and factors such as ge…
And Presidential Support in the 107th Congress
Immediately following the tragic events of 9/11, President George W. Bush's approval rating shot from 51% to 86%; a record 35-point rally effect according to the Gallup Poll. President Bush set another record on September 24th, 2001, as 90% of Americans approved of his performance. If public support is indeed an important president's legislative resource, President Bush should have been his most influential during his record rally. To get a sense…
Congress and Foreign Policy: Congressional Action on the Darfur Genocide
As of January 2008, more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced in the regions of Darfur and Chad. This event has not gone unnoticed in the United States, as the 109th United States Congress (2005–2006) considered several measures in the House of Representatives to provide funding and peacekeeping forces to quell the violence in Darfur. The goal of this article is to explain individual members' o…
The Position-taking Value of Bill Sponsorship in Congress
What is the value of non—roll call position taking in Congress? The authors argue that non—roll call positions are used by interest groups to acquire information about the direction and intensity of legislators’ preferences. Legislators, in turn, use them to attract campaign contributions from potential donors. Examining bill sponsorship in the 103rd and 104th Congresses, the authors find a relationship between campaign contributions from labor a…
The Institutional Mobility of Minority Members of Congress
This article examines the extent to which race and ethnicity affect mobility to leadership positions within Congress. The authors utilize survival analysis to examine the rate at which legislators attained committee leadership positions between the 101st and 108th Congresses. The results show that black legislators attain leadership positions faster than white legislators. This may be because of the tendency for black members of Congress (MCs) to…
Earmarks as a Means and an End: The Link between Earmarks and Campaign Contributions in the U.S. House of Representatives
Legislative earmarks have taken center stage in the popular press in recent years as journalists, pundits, the president, and, sometimes, even legislators themselves question the economic, representational, and general policy implications of this type of federal spending. Some scholars suggest that legislators garner either direct or indirect electoral benefits from this behavior, but empirical findings are mixed. In this article, we place this d…
The Effects of Citizens United on Corporate Spending in the 2012 Presidential Election
The 2012 presidential election saw a 594% increase in independent expenditures from the 2008 election ($144 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2012), leaving little doubt that the Supreme Court's landmark 2010 Citizens United decision opened the campaign spending floodgates. To what extent are corporations, the main subject of the ruling, the source of the increase? We argue that while Citizens alters the ability of corporations to spend on campaig…
The Impact of Citizens United on Large Corporations and Their Employees
The goal of this research is to determine whether the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling changed the contribution strategies of employees of major corporations. Using an original dataset of campaign contributions by employees of Fortune 500 companies, we analyze the contribution strategies of these individuals in the 2008 and 2012 presidential election cycles. Overall, our results suggest three important conclusions. First, Citi…
Allocating Unlimited Money: What Explains Super PAC Spending in Congressional Elections
How do Super PACs allocate their resources? The question is both timely and relevant, particularly as we reflect on the ten-year anniversary of the Citizens United ruling. Super PACs now outspend – sometimes by huge margins, as in the 2016 presidential election – all other groups’ independent expenditures including those of parties, unions, and 501(c) organizations. The issue is especially important in congressional politics, where Super PACs hav…
Re-examining the relationship between Latino population size and position taking on Latino interests in the US House of Representatives
In contrast to strong evidence that increases in district-level African American population size leads to greater support of African American issues in Congress, 40 years of research has been decidedly mixed on whether increases in district-level Latino population size translate to greater support of Latino issues. This paper provides an update to this literature by analyzing members’ of Congress (MCs) support of Latino issues through roll call v…
Demographic Shifts and Public Attitudes Toward the January 6th Attack
This paper examines the impact of demographic change on political perceptions, specifically attitudes toward the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Utilizing data from the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, we explore how changes in county-level nonwhite populations influence whether individuals label the event as a protest or an insurrection. Our findings reveal a curvilinear relationship: respondents in counties with mode…
A Tale of Two Kingdoms: State‐Level Political Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility
Objective This research note explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the political environment, focusing on the impact of state‐level political determinants on Fortune 500 companies' CSR ratings. Method We conduct OLS regression on 485 Fortune 500 companies’ 2020 CSRHub ratings, with standard errors clustered by state. Key independent variables include state partisanship and partisan control of state government…
Political science (18 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (16 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (15 works) · Economics (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies (12 works) · Public Administration (12 works) · Public Administration (10 works) · Sociology (9 works)