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Appropriators not Position Takers: The Distorting Effects of Electoral Incentives on Congressional Representation

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  • Justin Grimmer

Abstract

Congressional districts create two levels of representation. Studies of representation focus on a disaggregated level: the electoral connection between representatives and constituents. But there is a collective level of representation—the result of aggregating across representatives. This article uses new measures of home styles to demonstrate that responsiveness to constituents can have negative consequences for collective representation. The electoral connection causes marginal representatives—legislators with districts composed of the other party's partisans—to emphasize appropriations in their home styles. But it causes aligned representatives—those with districts filled with copartisans—to build their home styles around position taking. Aggregated across representatives, this results in an artificial polarization in stated party positions: aligned representatives, who tend to be ideologically extreme, dominate policy debates. The logic and evidence in this article provide an explanation for the apparent rise in vitriolic debate, and the new measures facilitate a literature on home styles.

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  • Justin Grimmer, 2013. "Appropriators not Position Takers: The Distorting Effects of Electoral Incentives on Congressional Representation," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 624-642, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:57:y:2013:i:3:p:624-642
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12000
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    Cited by:

    1. Sandra Wankmüller, 2023. "A comparison of approaches for imbalanced classification problems in the context of retrieving relevant documents for an analysis," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 91-163, April.
    2. Chris Hanretty & Benjamin E. Lauderdale & Nick Vivyan, 2020. "A Choice‐Based Measure of Issue Importance in the Electorate," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(3), pages 519-535, July.
    3. Gessler, Theresa & Hunger, Sophia, 2022. "How the refugee crisis and radical right parties shape party competition on immigration," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 524-544.
    4. van den Oever, Koen, 2017. "Uncharted waters : A behavioral approach to when, why and which organizational changes are adopted," Other publications TiSEM 0136c8c2-ecdd-4f82-8ca7-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Fowler, Anthony & Hall, Andrew B., 2015. "Congressional seniority and pork: A pig fat myth?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 42-56.
    6. John Kuk & Deborah Seligsohn & Jiakun Jack Zhang, 2022. "The partisan divide in U.S. congressional communications after the China shock," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 494-526, July.
    7. Jessica M. Hayden, 2021. "Confederate Imagery in Congressional Rhetoric: Divisions and Deliberation," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(3), pages 1084-1097, May.
    8. J. S. Maloy, 2014. "Linkages of Electoral Accountability: Empirical Results and Methodological Lessons," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(2), pages 13-27.
    9. Buisseret, Peter & Prato, Carlo, 2016. "Electoral control and the human capital of politicians," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 34-55.
    10. Michael S Evans, 2014. "A Computational Approach to Qualitative Analysis in Large Textual Datasets," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-10, February.
    11. Laura K. Nelson, 2020. "Computational Grounded Theory: A Methodological Framework," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(1), pages 3-42, February.

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