Are Voters Better Represented?

Studies of political participation and representation often contend that elected officials respond more to the preferences of voters than those of nonvoters, but seldom test this claim. This is a critical assumption because if true, biases in who participates will lead to biased representation. Offi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of politics 2005-11, Vol.67 (4), p.1206-1227
Main Authors: Griffin, John D., Newman, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conservatism
Elected officials
Legislators
Political Behavior
Political parties
Political representation
Political science
Preferences
Reelection
Representation
Senators
United States of America
Voter attitudes
Voter behavior
Voters
Voting
Voting Behavior
Voting rights
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Summary:Studies of political participation and representation often contend that elected officials respond more to the preferences of voters than those of nonvoters, but seldom test this claim. This is a critical assumption because if true, biases in who participates will lead to biased representation. Office holders might respond disproportionately to voters’ preferences because voters tend to select like-minded representatives, voters tend to communicate their preferences more, and only voters can reelect representatives. We find that voter preferences predict the aggregate roll-call behavior of Senators while nonvoter preferences do not. We also present evidence supporting the three explanations advanced to account for the preferential treatment of voters.
ISSN:0022-3816
1468-2508
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2508.2005.00357.x