The Effects of Political Representation on the Electoral Advantages of House Incumbents

Abstract

We examine factors that influence whether or not constituents know and like their representative in Congress, exploring how constituents respond to very different forms of political representation—descriptive, symbolic, and allocational—provided by House members. We compare the relative contribution that non-policy representational factors make to the electoral advantage that incumbents enjoy among their constituents. The statistical analysis demonstrates that several non-policy aspects of the representational relationship, including descriptive correspondence and the member’s legislative activity, benefit the incumbent through increased name recognition and, ultimately, in voters’ choices at the voting booth.