A Paradox in Polarization? Cross-pressured Representatives and the Missing Incentive to Moderate

Autor: Benjamin T. Toll
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: World Affairs. 182:61-96
ISSN: 1940-1582
0043-8200
DOI: 10.1177/0043820019825934
Popis: Members of the public are often left choosing between two extreme candidates who will not represent the moderate, aggregate, public effectively. Cross-pressured members of the U.S. Congress serve a constituency that votes for the opposite party at the national level. If there is any group of representatives that have an incentive to moderate their voting behavior, it is cross-pressured members. In this article, I show that cross-pressured members are more moderate than the average member of their party. This could provide constraints on rampant partisanship in the form of districts that are comfortable electing a representative of one party and voting for the president of the other. However, I show that these members are significantly less likely to be reelected. Thus a paradox exists in which cross-pressured members who moderate their voting behavior are no more likely to be rewarded for behaving the way citizens claim they want to represent.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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