Competitive general elections can mean more productive legislators, but only up to a point

Barber, Michael J. and Schmidt, Soren J. (2018) Competitive general elections can mean more productive legislators, but only up to a point. USApp - American Politics and Policy Blog (18 Jun 2018). Website.

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Abstract

The public's levels of trust and confidence in Congress have been at rock bottom for the best part of a decade, something which may be related to the perception that lawmakers do very little whilst they are in Washington DC. But can the threat of a competitive election or a primary challenge spur a lawmaker to be more productive? Analyzing legislative effectiveness and electoral pressure, Michael J. Barber and Soren J. Schmidt find that while the safer a legislator is from a primary challenger, the more effective they are, general election challenges result in an effectiveness ‘sweet spot’. After this point, legislating becomes less effective as lawmakers need to switch resources away from lawmaking and towards campaigning.

Item Type:	Online resource (Website)
Official URL:	http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2018/06/18/compet...
Additional Information:	© 2018 The Authors
Divisions:	IGA: United States Centre
Subjects:	J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States)
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2018 16:39
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 17:52
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/90697

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