Representation in America: Majority Rule in a Divided Political System
Apr 2027 · University of Chicago Press
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About this ebook
A landmark appraisal of how Congress represents public opinion.
Drawing on nearly two decades of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of American public opinion and more than one hundred key legislative proposals, Representation in America presents the most comprehensive, data-driven look at how Congress has represented the American public, spanning the presidencies of George W. Bush through Joe Biden. The result is a sweeping account of how electoral and legislative institutions channel and amplify majority preferences while tempering the most divisive proposals.
Stephen Ansolabehere and Shiro Kuriwaki trace each stage of the representation process, from constituents to their representatives to Congress’s collective decisions. Contrary to conceptions of democratic dysfunction, Ansolabehere and Kuriwaki find a strong majoritarian tendency: most proposals on the legislative agenda enjoy the support of the majority of Americans; voters tend to choose legislators whose positions they agree with; most legislators vote in line with the majority of their constituencies most of the time; and legislative districts magnify rather than mute majority opinion. When majority rule falls short, it usually takes the form of popular legislation stalling rather than Congress passing laws the public opposes.
Drawing on nearly two decades of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of American public opinion and more than one hundred key legislative proposals, Representation in America presents the most comprehensive, data-driven look at how Congress has represented the American public, spanning the presidencies of George W. Bush through Joe Biden. The result is a sweeping account of how electoral and legislative institutions channel and amplify majority preferences while tempering the most divisive proposals.
Stephen Ansolabehere and Shiro Kuriwaki trace each stage of the representation process, from constituents to their representatives to Congress’s collective decisions. Contrary to conceptions of democratic dysfunction, Ansolabehere and Kuriwaki find a strong majoritarian tendency: most proposals on the legislative agenda enjoy the support of the majority of Americans; voters tend to choose legislators whose positions they agree with; most legislators vote in line with the majority of their constituencies most of the time; and legislative districts magnify rather than mute majority opinion. When majority rule falls short, it usually takes the form of popular legislation stalling rather than Congress passing laws the public opposes.
A landmark appraisal of how Congress represents public opinion.
Drawing on nearly two decades of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of American public opinion and more than one hundred key legislative proposals, Representation in America presents the most comprehensive, data-driven loo...
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About the author
Stephen Ansolabehere is the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of five books, including The End of Inequality: One Person, One Vote and the Transformation of American Politics and Cheap and Clean: How Americans Think about Energy in the Age of Global Warming.
Shiro Kuriwaki is assistant professor of political science and a resident fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. His work has been published in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics, among others.
Stephen Ansolabehere is the Frank G. Thompson Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of five books, including The End of Inequality: One Person, One Vote and the Transformation of American Politics and Cheap and Clean: How Americans Think about Energy in the Age of Global...
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