Diffusion research has focused predominantly on analyzing collective decision making at the adoption stage. We evaluate diffusion at the level of the individual legislator and examine whether external cues play a stronger role in legislator decision making in cosponsorship versus adoption via floor voting. Leveraging data on successful and failed efforts across the U.S. states to adopt renewable portfolio standards (RPS), we show that the cue of ideological similarity matters more for RPS diffusion during adoption than cosponsorship. The result validates copious research that investigates external cues at adoption without considering that such cues might exert stronger influence earlier in lawmaking. Moreover, in devising a method to assess whether legislators are differentially receptive to cues from other states (here, we compared the baseline of adoption against cosponsorship), we provide scholars with a framework to further explore the question of whether external influence may be more pronounced among some legislators than others.

Does the public’s approval of their state legislature reflect their satisfaction with the outputs of state government? Using survey responses from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we consider the roots of public approval of state legislatures. We find that people are more likely to voice approval of their state legislature when it produces policy outcomes that correspond with their interests. Liberals view their state legislature more positively when policy outputs are liberal, while conservatives evaluate their state legislature more favorably when policy outcomes are conservative. These effects are the most pronounced among those who are the most knowledgeable about state politics. Using panel data from 2012 to 2014, we also show that changes in state policy liberalism are associated with changes in state legislative approval. Even though we have reasons to be pessimistic about the quality of citizens’ assessments of state government, our results demonstrate that citizens evaluate their state legislatures based on the policy outcomes they provide.

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This research was funded by a LeverhulmeResearch Grant. You can download the project report and find out more at https://bit.ly/3t4QmQT/