Abstract
How do different factors impact the voting behavior of members of the U.S. House of Representatives? Existing research asserts that factors related to the House itself or its institutions (district competitiveness and majority/minority party membership) tend to push members’ voting behaviors in a more polarized direction, with member seniority serving as an exception (Donnelly, 2019, Jones, 2010, Konisky and Ueda, 2011, Taylor, 2019). However, other recent scholarship demonstrates that descriptive factors (race, gender, age) also continue to influence members’ vote choices in more moderating ways (Wilson and Ellis, 2014, Broockman, 2013, Bauer and Cargile, 2023, Curry and Haydon, 2018). In order to test these relationships, I run an OLS regression of district competitiveness, majority/minority party membership, seniority, age, race, and gender on the absolute values of House members’ DW Nominate scores from the 100th through the 117th U.S. Congresses. From that point, I utilize the results of my OLS regression to assess which factors explain variance in absolute DW Nominate behavior.
Advisor
Sorensen, Ashley
Department
Political Science
Recommended Citation
Marshall, Ian C. A., "Rhyme and Reason: Examining the Causes of Variance Within the Absolute DW Nominate Scores of U.S. House Members" (2024). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 11174.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/11174
Disciplines
American Politics
Keywords
Congress, U.S. House, Legislator Behavior, DW Nominate, Age, Race, Gender, Seniority, Majority, District competitiveness
Publication Date
2024
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2024 Ian C. A. Marshall