Public Expectations of State Legislators

Wolak, Jennifer

doi:10.1111/lsq.12147

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Reelection-seeking parliamentarians are indeed expected to act in view of maximizing their support in subsequent elections (Mayhew, 1974), while voters are expected to take the incumbents' performance into account when casting their vote (Ferejohn, 1986). There have been numerous publications documenting the impact of constituency-oriented activities on reelection (Norris, 1997;Wolak, 2017;Chiru, 2018). There is however less real-world evidence concerning the effectiveness of MPs' personal vote-seeking strategies through work inside the parliament (Papp and Russo, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voters reward hard-working MPs: empirical evidence from the French legislative elections

Audigier

Navarro

2019

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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This paper studies the relationship between incumbent MPs’ activities and their electoral fortune. We address this question in the context of the French political system characterized by an executive domination, a candidate-centered electoral system, and an electoral schedule maximizing the impact of the presidential elections. Given the contradictory influence of these three institutional features on the relationship between MPs’ activities and electoral results, the overall link can only be assessed empirically. We test the effects of several measurements of MPs’ activities on both their vote share and reelection probability in the 2007 legislative election. We show that MPs’ activities are differently correlated to both the incumbents’ vote shares in the first round and their reelection. Despite the weakness of the French National Assembly, several parliamentary activities, especially bill initiation, have a significant effect on MPs’ electoral prospects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voters reward hard-working MPs: empirical evidence from the French legislative elections

Audigier

Navarro

2019

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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“…On the constituents' side, some work has demonstrated that defective behavior toward the party can appeal to voters, as it is interpreted as a signal of integrity and trustworthiness of the representative (e.g., Campbell et al 2016;Carson et al 2010). Constituents have also occasionally been surveyed about whether they prefer representatives to follow the party line or other considerations (e.g., Carman 2006;Méndez-Lago and Martínez 2002;Wolak 2017).…”

Section: Personalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidimensional Representation

Wolkenstein

Wratil

2020

American J Political Sci

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The study of representation is a major research field in quantitative political science. Since the early 2000s, it has been accompanied by a range of important conceptual innovations by political theorists working on the topic. Yet, although many quantitative scholars are familiar with the conceptual literature, even the most complex quantitative studies eschew engaging with the "new wave" of more sophisticated concepts of representation that theorists have developed. We discuss what we take to be the main reasons for this gap between theory and empirics, and present four novel conceptions of representation that are both sensitive to theorists' conceptual impulses and operationalizable for quantitative scholars. In doing so, we advance an alternative research agenda on representation that moves significantly beyond the status quo of the field.Replication Materials: The data and materials required to verify the computational reproducibility of the results, procedures, and analyses in this article are available on the American Journal of Political Science Dataverse within the Harvard Dataverse Network, at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/79RI4R. 1. surrogation (claiming and choosing constituents and representatives), 2. justification (providing and demanding reasons for actions), 3. personalization (viewing the representative role as that of an individual versus party agent), and 4. responsiveness (acting out of and expecting sensitivity to electoral sanctions).

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“…Research on the demand‐side of representation offers a useful starting point for answering this question, as it reveals how individuals weigh different styles of representation. These studies suggest that the public prefers legislators who respond to constituency preferences over those who focus on constituency services or the preferences of other actors (Bengtsson & Wass, 2011; Carman, 2007; Doherty, 2013; Griffin & Flavin, 2011; Harden, 2016; Lapinski et al, 2016; Wolak, 2017). However, this work cannot tell us whether, and under what circumstances, targeted representation is viewed more or less favorably than broader constituency representation, as it focuses exclusively on the latter.…”

Section: Constituency Heterogeneity and Targeted Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Should Get a Say? Race, Law Enforcement Guidelines, and Systems of Representation

Kevins

Robison

2020

Political Psychology

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Most citizens agree that legislators should reflect their constituencies' stances. Yet constituents rarely speak in a single voice. Instead, constituents often vary not only in their policy preferences, but also in the degree to which a given policy impacts their lives. Politicians thus at times pursue targeted representation, offering increased input to especially affected groups. As efforts to address anti‐Black police misconduct make clear, such measures can protect vulnerable minority groups—but they may also be perceived to sideline the less‐affected majority. We fielded two national survey experiments to investigate how Americans respond when legislators give more attention to some citizens than others. Results suggest that members of targeted groups react more positively on average than nonmembers and that reactions among nonmembers are strongly driven by racial resentment. The impact of racial resentment is largely unaffected by the race and partisanship of the politician proposing the measure, but it is exacerbated in cases of a clear preference conflict between the African American community and the broader constituency.

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Public Expectations of State Legislators

Cited by 23 publications

References 41 publications

Voters reward hard-working MPs: empirical evidence from the French legislative elections

Voters reward hard-working MPs: empirical evidence from the French legislative elections

Multidimensional Representation

Who Should Get a Say? Race, Law Enforcement Guidelines, and Systems of Representation

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