Helpful Extremists: The Relationship Between Casework and Ideology in Congress

• In Event: Campaigns, Elections, and Ideology in Legislative Politics

Abstract

Despite increasing levels of ideological extremism in Congress, relatively little is known about the impact of such extremism on other dimensions of representation, including the performance of constituency service. Although some scholars argue that the performance of high levels of service allows candidates to move away from the median voter and towards their ideal point, others cast doubt on this assertion. Are constituents willing to accept ideological extremism if it is accompanied by high levels of constituency service? In this paper, I use a candidate-choice experiment embedded in the 2017 Cooperative Congressional Election Study to test this hypothesis. The findings reveal that performing high levels of service significantly increases the likelihood of a respondent selecting an extremist candidate. Next, I use House staff allocation data to show that ideologically extreme members receive higher constituent approval evaluations when they dedicate more staffers to the district. Overall, this study suggests the continued salience of constituency service and it's usefulness to incumbents.

Author

• Jaclyn Kaslovsky, Harvard University