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The Prospects for Issue-Voting in Contemporary Congressional Elections

An Assessment of Citizen Awareness and Representation

University of Houston

Kim Quaile Hill

University of Houston at Clear Lake City

A number of research reports on presidential elections have found evidence for increased issue voting in recent years. This article extends the concern with such possible attitudinal and behavioral changes to midterm Congressional elections. To do so, we focus on one particular requirement for issue voting—the existence of accurate knowledge of candidates' policy positions. With data for 1978, we examine the existence and accuracy of constituents' perceptions of their own representative's positions in five issue domains and on a generalized liberal-conservative dimension. We also consider the quality of representation in these policy areas by comparing representatives' voting with constituents' personal policy preferences. The evidence indicates generally poor knowledge of candidates, but also that both candidates and citizens contribute to this situation. Similarly, there is only modest convergence between the preferences of individual citizens and their representative's voting behavior in Congress on the issues tested.

American Politics Research, Vol. 8, No. 4, 425-448 (1980)
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X8000800403


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