The Role of Personal Attributes in African American Roll-Call Voting Behavior in Congress

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Rocca ◽  
Gabriel R. Sanchez ◽  
Ron Nikora
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Personal Attributes ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Roll Call Voting

Congressional Voting on Labor Issues: The Role of PACS

ILR Review ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory M. Saltzman
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
Congressional Voting ◽  
Action Committee ◽  
Labor Issues ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Significant Direct Effect

This study measures the impact of labor and corporate political action committee (PAC) contributions on the voting of members of the House of Representatives on labor issues during 1979–80. It also analyzes the allocation of labor PAC contributions among House candidates. PAC contributions were found to have a significant direct effect on roll-call voting, even controlling for the Representative's political party and characteristics of the constituency. Since PAC money also affects roll-call voting indirectly (by influencing which party wins elections), the overall impact of PAC money on Congressional voting is probably substantial. The author also finds that labor PACs have focused more on influencing the outcome of elections than on currying favor with powerful members of the House who are likely to be re-elected anyway.

Courting Constituents? An Analysis of the Senate Confirmation Vote on Justice Clarence Thomas

1992 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 997-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Marvin Overby ◽  
Beth M. Henschen ◽  
Michael H. Walsh ◽  
Julie Strauss
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Logistical Regression ◽  
Constituency Size ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

The increasing public attention paid to Supreme Court nominations has elevated the salience of Senate confirmation battles, raising interesting questions about the impact of constituency preferences on senators' voting behavior. In this article, we explore this relationship using a logistical regression model to examine the impacts of African-American constituency size and the proximity of reelection on the roll call behavior of senators on the Clarence Thomas confirmation vote. Our analyses indicate that these factors were both statistically and substantively significant in the Thomas case. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of such findings.

scholarly journals Vote Secrecy With Diverse Voters

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 567-600
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Gingerich ◽  
Danilo Medeiros
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
Local Ties ◽  
Secret Ballot ◽  
Starting Point

Why would incumbent politicians adopt the secret ballot when doing so weakens the advantages of incumbency? Why is the secret ballot considered a democratizing reform in some settings, whereas in others it is associated with democratic backsliding? We provide theory and empirics to address these questions. Our starting point is the observation that the secret ballot had two consequences. It reduced the capacity to monitor the vote, thereby dampening the efficacy of clientelism. Yet, depending on literacy and electoral rules, it could also narrow political participation. Recognizing this, we endogenize politicians’ preferences over the secret ballot, concentrating on the role of their personal and constituency characteristics. Legislative roll call voting data from Brazil’s Second Republic (1945-1964) is used to test our framework. Consistent with expectations, the level of literacy of legislators’ supporters and the strength of their local ties strongly influenced the choice to adopt the secret ballot.

Policy for science by ballot or by roll call?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Jonah J. Ralston
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Stem Cell Research ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
The United States ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Research Initiative ◽  
Citizen Initiative ◽  
Voting Decisions ◽  
The U.S

Abstract This study compares stem cell research policymaking by legislators and citizens in the United States. First, using exit poll results from a 2006 stem cell research initiative in Missouri, the study finds that deeply held personal values such as religious beliefs and views of abortion predominate in an individual’s voting decision on this issue; second, an analysis of voting behavior by senators on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 finds that senators make their voting decisions based on their personal policy preferences rather than their constituents’ preferences; and third, the complexity of the Missouri citizen initiative is compared with that of the legislation in the U.S. Senate, finding that the language of the citizen initiative is more sophisticated than the language of the legislative act. These findings provide the context for a broader discussion of the role of citizens and legislators in making policy for science.

scholarly journals Gender and Roll Call Voting Behavior in Congress: A Cross-Chamber Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Frederick
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Common Space ◽  
Female Legislators ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Male House

Numerous studies have examined the roll call voting behavior of women in Congress. Much of this scholarship has focused on whether female legislators tend to be more liberal than their male colleagues. However, most of this research has examined whether gender differences exist within a specific legislative chamber. This paper seeks to build on this past research by exploring whether the relationship between the descriptive and substantive representation of women is contingent upon the institutional context in which female legislators serve. Using Common Space Scores which estimate the roll call voting behavior of U.S. Senators and U.S. House members on a scale that allows for comparisons across each chamber this study analyzes the voting records of Female Senators, Male Senators, Female House Members and Male House Members in the 109th-111th Congresses. The results show that in the contemporary Congress, gender exerts minimal influence on how legislators cast their votes with the exception of female Republican Senators who are noticeably more liberal than Republicans in both the House and Senate.

The Influence of the President and Government Coalition on Roll-Call Voting in Brazil, 2003–2006

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992090458
Author(s):  
Tsung-han Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Ideal Point ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Spatial Voting ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
The Government

In Brazil’s legislative process, political exchanges between the government and legislature is an essential feature. This article focuses on the role of the president and political parties in Brazil’s national legislative process. Because nonideological factors influence voting, roll calls do not suffice for estimation of legislators’ policy preferences. In this article, we derive a spatial model of voting in which voting behavior is induced by both ideological motivations and coalition dynamics and develop a multilevel ideal-point model implied by the spatial voting model. After the proposed model is applied to the analysis of roll-call votes in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies between 2003 and 2006, coalition dynamics is found to influence the voting behavior of legislators. We also confirm the finding in previous studies that the ideological alignment of political parties in the legislature contrasts with the perceived positions.

Roll-call Voting Behaviour in Legislatures

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-154
Author(s):  
Simon Hug
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Individual Accountability

Roll call votes offer rich behavioural information on individual members of parliament (MPs) and have been used to study many important research questions, also dealing with issues of representation. With the help of such votes MPs (and/or their parties) can be held to account. Thus, scholars have assessed broadly whether political parties act in a disciplined fashion and what affects the voting behavior of individual MPs, thus covering both processes of collective and individual accountability. The literature finds that evidence for such accountability relationships, is, however, also hampered by different uses of roll call votes across time and space.

German Parliamentarism in 1848: Roll-Call Voting in the Frankfurt Assembly

1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald J. Mattheisen
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Roll Call Voting ◽  
Party Discipline ◽  
Partial Revision ◽  
Government Coalition

The reputation of the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848 has undergone a partial revision in the last few years. Its members used to be considered political novices from whom one could learn little about how to run a parliament (Huber, 1960: 613 is typical). Ziebura (1963) was perhaps the first to challenge this view. He showed that the Frankfurt Assembly was, in fact, run in a very professional way: It created sophisticated and disciplined political parties, and these parties actually exerted effective control over parliamentary business. They even joined together to form a coalition that gave reliable political support to a German provisional government. Kramer (1968), Boldt (1971), Botzenhart (1977), and Langewiesche (1978) have subsequently documented the skillful organization of these parties and their attempts to control members, to create extraparliamentary connections, and to maintain both a formal government coalition and an organized opposition. Kramer (1968: 175-178) has shown that they were particularly successful in applying party discipline to voting behavior: The results of voting could often be foretold simply from a knowledge of how the parties stood on the question at issue.

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