What do Constituents Want From Their Legislative Representative? Evidence From a Conjoint Analysis

Abstract

While we know a lot about the behaviour of individual legislative representatives, we have a less developed understanding of what their constituents want them to do. This paper employs a novel survey experiment to examine what British citizens expect from their Member of Parliament. Using a conjoint analysis, we estimate citizens' preferences over various MP behaviours and attributes, including level of constituency orientation, level of independent-mindedness, party affiliation, gender and Parliamentary experience. Our findings not only inform debates about the role of the MP in modern British politics, but also enhance our understanding of the constituent-representative link in representative democracies more generally.