Representation

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Representation

• GOVT311 Lecture 20

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Are Representatives Representative?
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Are Representatives Representative?

• Representatives are better educated and wealthier
  than public.
• True for all political elites, such as party
  activists
• Who is interested in serving?
• Most are self-starters
• Fewer are reluctants people urged by their
  friends and family

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Are Representatives Representative on Issues?

• For most issues, the Public and Representatives
  hold the same attitudes on policy
• Except for tax breaks for the wealthy and gun
  control

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Is incumbency advantage Bad?

• Bad incumbents dont have to act as delegates
• Good incumbents who want to be reelected are
  most likely to act as delegates (else they get
  the boot).
• Good people must like incumbent job performance
  since so many are reelected

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Three Roles of Representatives

• Delegate a representative is a vessel, filled
  with the views of their constituents
• Trustee (Edmund Burke) a representative elected
  to make decisions for people, in their best
  interest, regardless how they feel
• Politico A person who acts as both, depending on
  the situation
• Most representatives say (in polls) they are a
  trustee or politico

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The Delegate

• For the delegate theory to work, representatives
  must have some idea of what their constituents
  want, which they do through
• Polling
• Questionnaires
• Election returns
• Constituent profile
• Mail and phone calls to office
• Home style
• Squeaky wheel gets the grease

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The Trustee

• Representatives must act as a trustee when they
  vote on arcane issues that the public does not
  follow
• These are perhaps the most difficult votes to
  make for a delegate-minded representative, who is
  afraid that a vote will unexpectedly activate a
  group in the district against the representative

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Evidence of Delegate Behavior

• Using Vote for Clinton as a measure of the
  liberal/conservative leaning of a district,
  districts that are most liberal have members that
  vote the most liberal in Congress (ET
  p.312-313).
• As election time draws near, Senators act more
  like delegates than trustees.
• Those representatives in the closest elections
  act as delegates

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Is Government Responsive?

• National policy corresponds to national mood (ET
  p.329)
• State policy corresponds to state ideology (ET
  p.331)