Electoral Status and Representation in the United States Senate

Abstract

That an upcoming election will sensitize representatives to the wishes of the represented appears to be a theoretically sound hypothesis. Previous tests of this proposition, however, provide inconsistent results. Also, measures used in previous research to examine intraterm changes vary significantly and are usually inadequate. Using data obtained from the American National Election Studies' 1988 and 1990 Senate Election Studies, the author tests the hypothesis that the relationship between state constituency opinion and senators' roll call behavior is a function of senators' proximity to the next election. Analyses reveal that those senators facing reelection in a particular year are considerably more responsive to their constituency's preferences than those who are not up for reelection. Moreover, among the remaining two-thirds, those 2 years away from a reelection display greater responsiveness to their constituency than those 4 years away. This study concludes that the temporal proximity to election does matter in senatorial voting behavior.