The role of politicians' perceptual accuracy of voter opinions in their reelection
Bibliographic Data
Political representation can be described as a process brought about via an electoral and a perceptual path. Drawing on original survey data on the perceptual accuracy of elected representatives in Belgium, Canada and Switzerland, this study explores whether and how the two paths are connected. It shows, first, that representatives who more accurately perceive voters' opinion are more likely to be re‐elected, suggesting that perceptual accuracy impacts the electoral path to representation. Second, representatives who are electorally safe hold less accurate perceptions of voters' policy preferences, meaning that the electoral path impacts the perceptual path. In all, the study provides evidence for the role of politicians' perceptual accuracy in their electoral career: voters sanction those representatives who are not sufficiently acquainted with their preferences, and representatives who fear to be voted out of office put more effort in getting acquainted with what voters want
House of Representatives · Meaning (existential · Path (computing · Perception · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Representation (politics · Sociology · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology
Wishful Thinking Among European Parliamentarians
Issue Congruence
Congressmen's Voting Decisions
Representing the People
Political Representation in France
Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences
Moving to a World Beyond “ p < 0.05”
Making Sense of Sensitivity
The ASA Statement on p -Values
It's Not Only About Lists
Shades of Brown and Green: Party Effects in Proportional Election Systems
Inference from Iterative Simulation Using Multiple Sequences
A general approach to causal mediation analysis.
Who Leads Whom?
Accountability and Authority
Democracy for Realists
Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data
Can Learning Constituency Opinion Affect How Legislators Vote? Results from a Field Experiment
A “Selection Model” of Political Representation
Congress, The Electoral Connection
The ‘sanction-policy’ linkage from the perspective of citizens and the role of the party system
A fully general index of political competition
Understanding MPs’ perceptions of party voters’ opinion in Western democracies
Contextual Factors in the Accuracy of Leader Perceptions of Constituents' Views
Inaccurate Politicians
Representatives' Perceptions of Constituency Opinion
The Incentive to Listen
The Awareness Paradox
Attitudes Towards the Focus and Style of Political Representation Among Belgian, French and Portuguese Parliamentarians
Measuring the Competitiveness of Elections
Measuring Closeness in Proportional Representation Systems
An Estimator for Some Binary-Outcome Selection Models Without Exclusion Restrictions
Explaining MPs’ perceptions of voters’ positions in a party-mediated representation system
The View from the Hill
The Accuracy of Leader Perceptions of Constituency Views
Constituents and Legislators
Voters’ preferences for party representation
Listening to the people
Policy responsiveness to all citizens or only to voters? A longitudinal analysis of policy responsiveness in OECD countries
Personal vote‐seeking in flexible list systems
Advances in the Study of Democratic Responsiveness
A Deeper Look at the Proportionality—Turnout Nexus
Measuring Representation
The Democratic Deficit in the States
Electoral Context and MP Constituency Focus in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom
Correcting Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion Among American Elected Officials
Correct Voting Across Thirty-Three Democracies
The Policy Consequences of Motivated Information Processing Among the Partisan Elite
Constituency Influence in Congress
Rethinking Representation
Accounting for the effects of accountability
A general measure of district competitiveness
Assessing the Case for Social Experiments
Issue Yield
The Two Faces of Issue Voting
Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites
Sources of Bias in Retrospective Decision Making
Dynamic Representation
Nonrepresentative Representatives
Do Politicians Outside the United States Also Think Voters Are More Conservative than They Really Are
Politicians' Beliefs about Voters
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |