William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

378 Chapter 11 | Congress

and Abraham Lincoln, among others), Congress dominated much of the day-to-day

politics, which revolved around issues such as the tariff (taxes on imported or exported

goods), slavery, and internal improvements such as building roads and canals. Given

the tendency to address these issues with patronage and the pork barrel—that is, jobs

and policies targeted to benefit specific constituents—Congress was better suited for

the task than the president was.

Beginning around the turn of the twentieth century and accelerating with the New Deal

of the 1930s (which established modern social welfare and regulatory policies), the scope

of national policy expanded and politics became more centered in Washington. With this

nationalization of politics and the increasing importance of national security issues from

World War II through the War on Terror, the president has assumed a more central policy-

making role. Nonetheless, the central tensions between representing local and national

interests remain essential in understanding the legislative process and the relationship

between members of Congress and their constituents.

Congress represents the people (or tries to)

Americans have a love–hate relationship with Congress; that is, we love our own member

of Congress, but we hate Congress as a whole. Well, “hate” is a strong word, but as we show

later in this section, individual members of Congress routinely have approval ratings 30 to

40 points higher than the institution’s. One poll found that members of Congress landed

third from the bottom in a ranking of 22 professions in terms of perceived honesty and

ethical standards, narrowly ahead of car salespeople and lobbyists (nurses and military

officers were at the top).^4 A more whimsical poll by Public Policy Polling asked respondents

questions such as “What do you have a higher opinion of, Congress or root canals?” Root

canals won handily, 56 percent to 32 percent. Congress was also less popular than head lice,

traffic jams, and cockroaches, but narrowly beat out Lindsay Lohan and had a comfortable

margin over the Ebola virus, the Kardashians, and meth labs.^5 Why is Congress so

unpopular? How do members of Congress try to represent their constituents? And how do

elections influence this important dynamic?

Types of Representation The relationships between constituents and their member

of Congress can be characterized in two basic ways: as both descriptive and substantive.

Descriptive representation occurs when members of Congress “look like” their

constituents in demographic or socioeconomic terms. For example, are members African

American, Latino, or white; male or female; Catholic, Protestant, or some other religion;

middle-class or upper-class? Many people believe that this kind of representation is a

distinct value in itself. Having positive role models for various demographic groups helps

create greater trust in the system. Moreover, constituents benefit from being represented

by someone who shares something as basic as their skin color.

Descriptive representation is also related to the perceived responsiveness of a member of

Congress. In general, constituents report higher levels of satisfaction with representatives

who are of their same racial or ethnic background. Thus, descriptively represented

constituents are more likely than those who are not to assume that their interests are being

represented.^6 If you doubt that descriptive representation makes a difference, ask yourself

whether it would be fair if all 435 House members and 100 senators were white male

Protestants. Although the demographics of Congress are considerably more diverse than

this, the legislature does not come close to “looking like us” on a nationwide scale (see the

What Do the Facts Say? feature). This is especially true in the Senate, where only ten African

Americans and nine Latinos have served in the history of the institution (three African

Americans and five Latinos currently are in the Senate as of 2017).^7

pork barrel

Legislative appropriations that

benefit specific constituents,

created with the aim of helping local

representatives win reelection.

The American Republic will

endure until the day Congress

discovers that it can bribe the

public with the public’s money.

—Alexis de Tocqueville

Suppose you were an idiot. And

suppose you were a member of

Congress. But I repeat myself.

—Mark Twain

descriptive representation

Representation in which a member of

Congress shares the characteristics

(such as gender, race, religion, or

ethnicity) of his or her constituents.

$1.4 million

was the average net worth of

members of Congress in 2015. More

than half of all members of Congress

are millionaires (307 of 535).

Source: Center for Responsive Politics

DID YOU KNOW?

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