Sven Steinmo, �鶹ӰԺ

Published: 2019

“Néo-institutionnalisme historique” in Laurie Boussaguet, Sophie Jacquot, and Pauline Ravinet (eds.), Dictionnaire des politiques publiques, VOL. 4., Paris: Presses de Sciences Po, pp. 382-390, (2019), ISBN 9782724625110

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Sven Steinmo, �鶹ӰԺ; Sven Hort, Södertörn University

Published: 2019 

“Who is that guy?” in Sven Engstrom and Sven Hort (eds.), Om Bo Rothstein, Aktiv Forlag, Lund, Sweden, 2019, pp. 67-73.

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By: Jaroslav Tir �鶹ӰԺ, Shane P. Singh University of Georgia

Published: 28 June 2018 

Abstract:

Gender and politics research argues that men are more hawkish and supportive of militarized confrontations with foreign foes, while women ostensibly prefer more diplomatic approaches. This suggests that, after a militarized confrontation with a foreign power, women’s likelihood of voting for the incumbent will both decrease and be lower than that of men. Our individual-level, cross-national examinations cover 87 elections in 40 countries, 1996–2011, and show only some support for such notions. Women punish incumbents when their country is targeted in a low-hostility militarized interstate dispute (MID) or when their country is the initiator of a high-hostility MID. The low-hostility MID initiation and high-hostility MID targeting scenarios, meanwhile, prompt women to be more likely to vote for the incumbent. Importantly, men’s reactions rarely differ from women’s, casting doubt on the existence of a gender gap in electoral responses to international conflict.

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By: Jennifer Wolak, �鶹ӰԺ 

Published: 26 February 2019

Abstract:

When women are represented on the campaign trail and in elected office, women in the electorate have been shown to report greater engagement in politics. However, most evidence of the effects of descriptive representation on women's empowerment is drawn from surveys from the 1980s and 1990s. I update these studies to consider how women candidates and officeholders affect the political knowledge, interest, and participation of other women in the electorate. Using responses from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study from 2006 to 2014, I find that both men and women are more politically knowledgeable when represented by women in Congress and in state government. Considering political engagement, I find little evidence that women are more politically interested or participatory when residing in places with more female officeholders or candidates. Women's political presence as candidates and officeholders does not uniquely encourage other women to engage in political life.

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By: Stephani Langehennig, Joseph Zamadics, Jennifer Wolak, �鶹ӰԺ 

Published: 13 Janurary 2019 

Abstract:

Does the public’s approval of their state legislature reflect their satisfaction with the outputs of state government? Using survey responses from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we consider the roots of public approval of state legislatures. We find that people are more likely to voice approval of their state legislature when it produces policy outcomes that correspond with their interests. Liberals view their state legislature more positively when policy outputs are liberal, while conservatives evaluate their state legislature more favorably when policy outcomes are conservative. These effects are the most pronounced among those who are the most knowledgeable about state politics. Using panel data from 2012 to 2014, we also show that changes in state policy liberalism are associated with changes in state legislative approval. Even though we have reasons to be pessimistic about the quality of citizens’ assessments of state government, our results demonstrate that citizens evaluate their state legislatures based on the policy outcomes they provide.

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By: Jennifer Wolak, �鶹ӰԺ 

Published: 09 June 2019 

Abstract:

Political knowledge is an incredible political resource for citizens, promoting informed voter decision-making and helping citizens hold their elected officials accountable. But it is a resource that is not equitably distributed in the electorate, as blacks, Latinos, and Asian-Americans are significantly less politically informed than whites. We explore the degree to which knowledge shortfalls reflect the underrepresentation of minority legislators in Congress. Using data from the 2006–2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we explore the relationship between both general and specific political knowledge and descriptive representation in Congress. We show that when those in the minority are descriptively represented by co-racial and co-ethnic legislators in Congress, knowledge gaps between whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asian-Americans are diminished.

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By: Jennifer Wolak, �鶹ӰԺ

Published: 21 May 2019

Abstract:

Why do young people choose to identify with a political party? While existing accounts emphasize the importance of political socialization, we propose that young people’s self-perceptions also influence the adoption of partisan identities. Using survey data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we show that self-esteem plays an important role in the development of partisanship among young people, where those with higher self-esteem are more likely to adopt a partisan identity than those with low self-esteem. Using responses from the 2012–2013 American National Election Study, we further show that the effects of self-esteem are concentrated among young adults, promoting the adoption of partisan identities during one’s impressionable years. By focusing on the inheritance of partisanship from one’s parents, scholars have underestimated the importance of young people’s traits in influencing the development of partisan identities.

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By: Jennifer Wolak, �鶹ӰԺ

Published: 12 May 2019 

Read More Here: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/708644

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John D. Griffin and Brian Newman

Published: 2019, Presidential Studies Quarterly 49(2): 310-329.

Abstract:

Presidents face incentives to move toward the median voter as elections approach. We explore the racial consequences of these electoral incentives. As presidents move toward the center, they move away from ideologically noncentrist groups like the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Comparing the president’s annual budget proposal to the CBC’s alternative budget from 1980 to 2012, we test whether Democrats’ (Republicans’) budgets are less (more) congruent with the CBC’s alternative budgets in election years. Typically, Democrats’ budgets are much more congruent than Republicans’ with the CBC’s budgets. However, in election years, Democrats’ budget proposals tend to move away from the CBC’s ideal such that Democrats’ budgets are no better aligned with the CBC than are Republicans’ budgets.

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John D. Griffin, Brian Newman, and David W. Nickerson

Published: 2019, Legislative Studies Quarterly 44(1): 133-162

Abstract: 

Theories of democratic politics prize congruence between citizens’ preferences and their elected representatives’ actions in office. Elections are a critical means for achieving such policy congruence, providing voters the opportunity to chasten representatives who are out of step with constituent preferences and to reward the faithful. Do voters act this way? Recent studies based on observational data find they do, but these data are somewhat limited. We employ a survey experiment to estimate the extent to which information about policy congruence affects voters’ evaluations of representatives. We informed some subjects how often their member of Congress’s voting decisions match their own stated preferences on the same policies. We find that information about congruence enhances accountability by affecting constituent evaluations of representatives and may also affect citizens’ propensity to participate in upcoming elections.

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