Congressional Representation
Accountability from the Constituent's Perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6231067 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen Ansolabehere (0000-0001-5240-9084, Harvard University), Shiro Kuriwaki (0000-0002-5687-2647, Harvard University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 123-139 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ajps.12607 |
| OpenAlex | W3159379791 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 30 |
| References cited | 31 |
The premise that constituents hold representatives accountable for their legislative decisions undergirds political theories of democracy and legal theories of statutory interpretation. But studies of this at the individual level are rare, examine only a handful of issues, and arrive at mixed results. We provide an extensive assessment of issue accountability at the individual level. We trace the congressional roll‐call votes on 44 bills across seven Congresses (2006–18), and link them to constituent's perceptions of their representative's votes and their evaluation of their representative. Correlational, instrumental variables, and experimental approaches all show that constituents hold representatives accountable. A one‐standard deviation increase in a constituent's perceived issue agreement with their representative can improve net approval by 35 percentage points. Congressional districts, however, are heterogeneous. Consequently, the effect of issue agreement on vote is much smaller at the district level, resolving an apparent discrepancy between micro and macro studies
Accountability · Democracy · Economics · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Law and economics · Legislature · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Premise · Public economics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Statutory interpretation · Statutory law · TRACE (psycholinguistics) · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Public Administration
Elections, competition, and constituent evaluations of U.S. senators
Uniform Punishment and Conditional Reward
Lights, Camera, Inaction? The Effects of Gavel-to-Gavel Floor Coverage on U.S. State Legislatures
Legislative Organization and Political Representation
Race, Responsiveness, and Representation in U.S. Lawmaking
Only for Some Women
The Political Determinants of Public Support for Obstruction of Supreme Court Nominees
Issue Accountability in Non-Partisan Municipalities
Legislator Pivotality and Voter Accountability
Inequalities in place‐based representation
When can individual partisanship be tempered? Mass behavior and attitudes across the Covid-19 pandemic
The determinants of the media coverage of politicians
Public opinion foundations of the clean energy transition
Ground-truthing political elites in the public sphere
Elections Improve Support for State Trial Court Judges in the United States
Descriptive Representation in an Era of Polarization
When Do Legislators Represent Their Constituents? Evidence from Roll-Call and Referendum Votes
Asking about Complex Policies
Gender, Issue Stereotypes, and the Electoral Returns to Distributive Politics in the United States
The politics of accountability in Supreme Court nominations
From cradle to congress
Making Issues Matter
Collective Representation in Congress
Promoting a Diverse Bench
Does Protest Influence Political Speech? Evidence from UK Climate Protest, 2017–2019
Gendered Expectations
Senators at Home
Protest as One Political Act in Individuals' Participation Repertoires
Under the Microscope
Dilemmas in Representation
What Americans know about politics and why it matters
Follow the Leader?
The Responsible Electorate
Making Sense of Sensitivity
Electoral Accountability and the Control of Politicians
Ideological Extremists in the U.S. Congress
Partisan Intoxication or Policy Voting
Does the Ideological Proximity Between Candidates and Voters Affect Voting in U.S. House Elections
Constituents’ Responses to Congressional Roll‐Call Voting
Representation in Congress
The Delegate Paradox
Ideology and the US Congressional Vote
A Theory of Political Parties
Approaches to Studying Policy Representation
Determining Trade Policy
On the Meaning of Survey Reports of Roll‐Call “Votes
The Causal Effects of Elite Position‐Taking on Voter Attitudes
Uninformed Votes
Estimating Party Influence in Congressional Roll-Call Voting
The Electoral Costs of Party Loyalty in Congress
One Vote Out of Step? The Effects of Salient Roll Call Votes in the 2010 Election
Inferences Made Easy
Constituency Influence in Congress
The political consequences of uninformed voters
Leapfrog Representation and Extremism
Political Ignorance and Collective Policy Preferences
Elite Influence on Public Opinion in an Informed Electorate
Spatial Voting in the 2004 Presidential Election
The Party or the Purse? Unequal Representation in the US Senate
Out of Step, Out of Office
| Unique citing works | 30 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 7,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 30 |