Constituency Response To Congressional Behavior

The Impact of the House Judiciary Committee Impeachment Votes

Bibliographic Data

ID10873227
AuthorsGerald C Wright (Florida Atlantic University), Gerald Wright (0000-0002-5169-4212, Florida Atlantic University, corresponding author)
Year1977
Volume30
Issue3
Pages401-410
Publication date1977-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Western Political Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-4078 • E-ISSN: 2325-8675
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/106591297703000310
OpenAlexW1982932142
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited1

T HE EVENTS of Watergate and Richard Nixon's unprecedented resignation from the presidency in the face of impeachment constitutes one of the true high points in American political drama. With the media now attending current but less explosive events, and with Nixon cloistered in San Clemente working on his memoirs, political scientists and historians are beginning to assess some of the less apparent theoretical and practical consequences of these tumultuous events. Studies have already shown, for example, that Watergate significantly tarnished children's previously benign images of political authorities, and we can be fairly certain that exposure of Nixon's strategems has accelerated the rise in public political cynicism.1 Watergate also focused public attention on Congress through sustained media coverage of the Senate and House Committee hearings on the cover-up, dirty tricks, plumbers, and Nixon's involvement with these and related events. This paper assesses one of the consequences of public exposure to the workings of Congress during this period: the electoral fate of members of the House Judiciary Committee after they were cast into national limelight during their deliberations and votes on impeachment. Never before has a committee of the House of Representatives received such national exposure. The intense media coverage of the hearings ought to have greatly increased constituency awareness of the Committee members and their positions on the nationally salient issue of impeachment. Our purpose here is to determine whether voters use such issue information about candidates when it is clearly available. That is, do the issue positions taken by candidates in this case proand anti-impeachment standssystematically influence House members' reelection chances?2

Cynicism · Dissenting opinion · House of Representatives · Impeachment · Limelight · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Public opinion · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Public Administration · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Social Media and Politics

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