The Partisan Face of Political Representation in the U.S.

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the sources of variance in what style of representation citizens prefer in the United States. We hypothesize that, because Democrats tend to be more egalitarian and humanistic than do Republicans, that Democrats are more likely to prefer “constituent-based” (a.k.a. delegate-style) representation, while Republicans are more likely to prefer “conscience-based” (a.k.a. trustee-style) representation. Using a nationally representative survey experiment embedded within the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), we find support for this hypothesis.