Legislative Staff and Representation in Congress
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3250231 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (0000-0002-7978-0550), Alexander Hertel‐fernandez (Columbia University, corresponding author), Matto Mildenberger (0000-0001-5784-435X, University of California, Santa Barbara, corresponding author), Leah C Stokes, Leah Stokes (0000-0002-9919-8664, University of California, Santa Barbara, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 113 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2019-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003055418000606 |
| OpenAlex | W2899663240 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 165 |
| References cited | 45 |
Legislative staff link Members of Congress and their constituents, theoretically facilitating democratic representation. Yet, little research has examined whether Congressional staff actually recognize the preferences of their Members' constituents. Using an original survey of senior US Congressional staffers, we show that staff systematically mis-estimate constituent opinions. We then evaluate the sources of these misperceptions, using observational analyses and two survey experiments. Staffers who rely more heavily on conservative and business interest groups for policy information have more skewed perceptions of constituent opinion. Egocentric biases also shape staff perceptions. Our findings complicate assumptions that Congress represents constituent opinion, and help to explain why Congress often appears so unresponsive to ordinary citizens. We conclude that scholars should focus more closely on legislative aides as key actors in the policymaking process, both in the United States and across other advanced democracies
Democracy · Legislative process · Legislature · Observational study · Perception · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Representation (politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Medicine · Policy Transfer and Learning · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Psychology
Culture and Regimes
A field experiment on community policing and police legitimacy
Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half
Short Circuiting Policy
On policy responsiveness
Policy responsiveness
Widespread public support and pluralistic ignorance associated with United States Animal Protection Policy
Factors influencing environmental inspection legislation
When Staff Identity Matters
Academics and Election Administration in Nigeria
Seeing Divides
Paying for Legitimacy
Individualism, Structuralism, and Climate Change
Hometown Inequality
Gun Ownership as a Social Identity
All About Location
Improving Small-Area Estimates of Public Opinion by Calibrating to Known Population Quantities
Elite Misperceptions in Foreign Policy
A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy
Democracy Misunderstood
Meanings of democracy
Does gender matter for climate change governance? A review of empirical research
Mapping public support for climate solutions in France
Ordnungsrechtliche Maßnahmen für nachhaltigen Konsum
Glimmers of hope
Political dynamics and governance of World Heritage ecosystems
The exchange between citizens and elected officials
Blame over blackouts
Can Mayors Lead on Climate Change? Evidence from Six Years of Surveys
Cost sensitivity, partisan cues, and support for the Green New Deal
Staff Matters
Testing Staff Roles in the Danish Parliament
Role Conceptualisations and the Purple Zone
Public Support for Higher Taxes on the Wealthy
Echoes and Barriers
Representation and the legislative enterprise
Institutional development of legislative supporting agencies (LSAs) from a perspective of difference between presidential and parliamentary systems
Disinformation in international politics
Do Republican and Democratic legislators have polarized views of their district’s demographics
Experimental Measurement of Misperception in Political Beliefs
Empirical approaches to the study of access
Lobbying venue selection under separation of powers and resource constraints
The modern legacy of Mobilizing Interest Groups in America
Journalists’ Misjudgement of Audience Opinion
The connections—and misconnections—between the public and politicians over climate policy
Science communication in Congress
A new measure to understand the role of science in US Congress
Do State Legislative Staffer Networks Influence Roll-call Voting? Evidence from Shared Personal Staffers in Arizona, Indiana, and New Mexico
Silence and democratic institutional design
Social work under rising authoritarianism in the United States
Selection Neglect and Political Beliefs
From Personal to Partisan
Organizing Staff in the U.S. Senate
Human Capital Exiting Capitol Hill? Differences in Congressional Staff Turnover by Race and Gender
Parliamentary Staff Size Around the World
Partisan and Ideological Bias Among the Attentive Public
Getting what you pay for
Decentralization and the governance of climate adaptation
Second-order beliefs among citizens, elected political elites, and unelected political elites
Civic Engagement in Decline
How shifting priorities and capacity affect policy work and constituency service
Racial Context and Political Support for California School Taxes
Are Individuals Harmed by Gerrymandering? Examining Access to Congressional District Offices
Class Attitudes, Political Knowledge, and Support for Redistribution in an Era of Inequality
Representation Imperatives in the Public Mind
Sources of Elected Representatives’ (Mis)Perceptions of Public Opinion
National or partisan representation
Revolving doors in Europe
Blurred lines between electoral and parliamentary representation
Public opinion foundations of the clean energy transition
The Partisan Vote
Banklash
Who's Out of Touch? Media Misperception of Public Opinion on US Foreign Policy
Ingroup and outgroup effects on party placement perceptions
The Elusive Likely Voter
Reducing Unequal Representation
Signalling compliance
Nonelectoral Motivations to Represent Marginalized Groups in a Democracy
Unequal Geographic Representation in a Mixed-Member Electoral System
The Effects of Covid-19 Infection on Opposition to Covid-19 Policies
Understanding MPs’ perceptions of party voters’ opinion in Western democracies
What explains the size of parliamentary staff
Inequality in the public priority perceptions of elected representatives
Information, Candidate Selection, and the Quality of Representation
Women’s Advancement in Politics
Inaccurate Politicians
The Political Weaponization of Gun Owners
A Theory of Intensity, Electoral Competition, and Costly Political Action
Affluence and Congruence
The Source of the Legislative Professionalism Advantage
Do Governments Always Take Unpopular Decisions Knowingly? How Perceptual Inaccuracy Affects Policy Decisions
From a cultural to a distributive issue
Do Women Politicians Know More about Women’s Policy Preferences? Evidence from Canada
Towards a Democratic Theory of Silence
Conservative bias in perceptions of public opinion among citizens
Interest group lobbying and partisan polarization in the United States
State Labor Laws and Government Responsiveness to Public Opinion
Mechanisms of Political Responsiveness
More than Mere Access
Projection in Politicians' Perceptions of Public Opinion
The political beliefs of Americans
Congressmen's Voting Decisions
Representing the Advantaged
Outside Lobbying
Legislating in the Dark
The Unheavenly Chorus
Who Governs?
Mobilizing Interest Groups in America
The Business of America is Lobbying
White-Collar Government
Constituency Representation in Congress
Is It Whom You Know or What You Know? An Empirical Assessment of the Lobbying Process
Agendas, alternatives, and public policies
The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics
Grassroots for Hire
Affluence and Influence
Professionals in the U. S. Congress
Congress, The Electoral Connection
Congress
A Bias Towards Business? Assessing Interest Group Influence on the U.S. Bureaucracy
U. S. Congressman as Enterprise
The Effects of Congressional Staff Networks in the US House of Representatives
Local Union Organization and Law Making in the US Congress
Revolving Door Lobbyists and the Value of Congressional Staff Connections
Representatives' Perceptions of Constituency Opinion
What Can We Learn with Statistical Truth Serum
Information Equivalence in Survey Experiments
Testing Theories of American Politics
Relative Policy Support and Coincidental Representation
Recent Research on Legislative Staffs
Income Inequality and Policy Responsiveness
Knowing One's District
Electoral Backlash against Climate Policy
Campaign Contributions Facilitate Access to Congressional Officials
Congressional Legislative Staff
Perspective Taking as Egocentric Anchoring and Adjustment
Constituency Influence in Congress
How we know-and sometimes misjudge-what others know
Lobbying as Legislative Subsidy
Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites
Buying Time
| Unique citing works | 165 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 20,63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 165 |