William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

WHAT DO

THE FACTS

S AY?

Source: Jennifer Manning, Congressional

Research Service, “Membership of the 115th

Congress: A Profile,” October 1, 2018, fas.org/

sgp/crs/misc/R44762.pdf (accessed 10/17/18).

Descriptive Representation in

the 115th Congress

Compared with a generation ago, the number of women and racial and ethnic minorities

in Congress has increased. But on these dimensions, how representative of the people is

Congress? How close does Congress come to “looking like us”? What do the facts say?

379

U.S. population

89% 3% 3%5%

77% 9% 11% 3%

61.6% 17.6% 12.4% 5.4% 3%

House

Senate

White Latino (any race) African American

Asian American Other

Racial and Ethnic Composition of Congress

House

Senate

U.S. population 50.8%

20%

23% 77%

80%

49.2%

Female Male

Gender in Congress

• Which comes closer to “looking like us,” the House or the Senate?


• How could having more women or racial and ethnic minorities in Congress
  affect legislation and policy decisions?


• Latinos now make up the largest ethnic minority in the United States, yet they
  still lag behind African Americans in terms of representation in the House. Why
  do you think this is?

Think about it

Congress and the people

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