Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Wachtel, Joseph Michael
URN	etd-08142009-033743
Title	Vote Choice and Roll-Call Accuracy: How Knowledge of Senate Behavior Affects Support for the Incumbent
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Political Science, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Jason Barabas Committee Chair Charles Barrilleaux Committee Member Jennifer Jerit Committee Member
Keywords	Democratic Representation Political Knowledge
Date of Defense	2008-07-22
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Elected representatives have incentives to vote as their constituents would. Otherwise, they face the prospect of being removed from office in the next election. However, scholars studying the degree to which legislators act in the public interest often use measures that make it hard to judge the extent of responsiveness and they do not consider whether citizens have the information needed to hold representatives accountable. Drawing upon a large national survey in 2006 with detailed knowledge and opinion measures, we find that representation is rewarded when citizens possess sufficient information. Across seven issues spanning domestic politics and foreign affairs, respondents in our surveys base their electoral support on both correctly stating how their Senator voted on major legislation and their perceived agreement with the Senator‘s votes. Furthermore, we show that state-level variations in the amount of media coverage devoted to legislative behavior influences the degree to which citizens hold their representatives accountable. These findings underscore the important role of public knowledge in securing political representation.
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