Party Pressure and Representation

Chad Kendall

No 12391, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: I study how political parties affect representation in the U.S. House. To do so, I account for party pressure on the votes of members in an otherwise standard spatial model that uses roll call voting patterns to identify member ideologies. I simultaneously estimate voter ideologies from survey responses, leveraging their responses on issues before Congress to bridge voters and members into the same ideological space. I find that, relative to a model without party pressure, member ideologies and those of their constituents are much more closely aligned. The results imply that, in terms of actual votes, parties drive a wedge between members and those they represent. I provide evidence that parties do so strategically, balancing the need for legislative wins and the electoral concerns of their members.

Keywords: political representation; party discipline; party pressure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 P0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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