Do roll call votes influence member reelection prospects?
By Ben Highton Political scientists and political analysts have a keen interest in knowing whether the roll call votes Members of Congress (MCs) make concerning significant public policy influence… Read More
How pork-barrel spending shapes the ideological composition of Congress
In classrooms across the country, economics professors often use the phrase “guns and butter” as an analogy for the competing priorities nations face when deciding how to allocate resources. Read More
Rethinking redistricting and when it matters
Image source: US Census By Charles R. Hunt In a previous LegBranch post, I assessed some competing theories of how consequential the redistricting process has been to congressional elections… Read More
Polarization is an output of our process, not the cause of all our woes
Our recent piece, “Congress is Broken. But don’t blame polarization,” provoked a number of useful discussions about how political scientists should interpret the results of empirical models like DW-NOMINATE. Read More
How do electoral incentives affect legislator behavior?
Image source By Alexander Fouirnaies and Andrew B. Hall The Democratic Goal: Electoral Accountability Those in power don’t always do what we want them to do; this is the central… Read More
Video: Weak parties and strong partisanship
At our April 2018 Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group meeting, Marquette professor and FiveThirtyEight.com contributor Julia Azari discussed her take on how and why we can have… Read More
The House and Senate go rogue?
Image source: The Hill By Joshua C. Huder Today’s Congress is often rightfully perceived as lacking democracy and controlled by a select few. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are cast… Read More
Social media’s polarizing effects
Image source: NYMAG By Kevin Wagner Mark Zuckerberg’s recent testimony in front of Congress illustrates two very important points about social media. Every member of Congress knows they have… Read More
Member joining patterns across party factions in the 115th Congress
Image source: Politico By Danielle Thomsen Two main teams compete for partisan control in the contemporary Congress, but even in the current context of high partisan polarization, differences between members… Read More
Leadership super PACs and the further centralization of power
Image source: PBS By Marian Currinder The direct primary was one of the Progressive Era’s most consequential reforms. Diminishing the role of parties in the nominating process meant that campaigns… Read More