Approaches to Studying Policy Representation

• Autores: David E. Broockman
• Localización: Legislative studies quarterly, ISSN 0362-9805, Vol. 41, N. 1, 2016, págs. 181-215
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Some studies of policy representation test hypotheses about the relationship between citizens' views and elites' positions on multiple issues by proceeding one issue at a time. Others summarize citizens' and elites' preferences with “ideology scores” and test hypotheses with these. I show that approach is flawed. It misinterprets citizens' ideology scores as summaries of policy preferences, but these scores actually measure ideological consistency across areas: how often citizens' ideal policies are liberal or conservative. Examples show how attending to this distinction overturns conventional wisdom: legislators appear similarly moderate as citizens, not more extreme; however, politically engaged citizens appear especially moderate.