The Influence of Incumbency and Partisanship on Fenno’s Paradox: Evidence from Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan

Abstract

Fenno’s Paradox—the preference for one’s own legislator while disliking the legislature as a whole—remains one of the most consistent findings in American politics. This tendency increases the likelihood for incumbents to win reelection, despite being a part of a less popular institution. Little analysis looks at whether Fenno’s Paradox exists outside of the US in other legislative contexts, or whether incumbency itself or partisan identification is the larger influence. Using 2012 survey data from Taiwan, a mixed member system, this analysis examines individual level divergence between preference for a legislator and institutional preference. Consistent with work in American politics, we find a marginal incumbency advantage, but this effect is attenuated by the partisanship of the district legislator.

Why People Hate Congress but Love Their Own Congressperson: An Information Processing Explanation

“…This paradox is not limited to the American congress. Rather, it is a general phenomenon found across many different Western democracies, where people negatively perceive political institutions and collectives, while evaluating their own familiar individual members of these same institutions more positively (Lanoue & Headrick, 1994; Mishler & Rose, 2001; Norris, 1999; Pharr & Putnam, 2000; Rich & Bucci, 2018; Seligson, 2006).…”