Polarization, Political Institutions, and Policymaking in the U.S. States

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Our current period of dysfunction in policymaking at the national level has led to a renewed interest in state politics as a source of public policy. The authors in this panel use original data and a diverse set of methods to explore in depth some of the myriad factors that shape the creation and content of laws. Magazinnik and Peng analyze changes in immigration policy over time, asking whether voting patterns on immigration in state legislature followed more widespread trends in polarization and whether elites or the mass public were responsible for this evolution. Kistner develops and tests a formal model which considers how rising polarization and competition work together to produce gridlock, utilizing a newly constructed dataset on significant laws passed by state legislatures. Kroeger and Provins use tools of textual analysis to examine the importance of gender in lawmaking, focusing on how the identity of the sponsoring legislator influences the final form of legislation. Finally, Downey and Oklobdzija look to policymaking that takes place outside of the legislature, harnessing evidence from a survey experiment to evaluate how the language of ballot initiatives affects popular support. Together, these studies help answer foundational questions of how policies are developed and how policies are successfully passed.

Sub Unit

• Division 29: State Politics and Policy

Individual Presentations

• Legislating or Electioneering? The Impact of Electoral Demands on Gridlock - Michael Kistner, University of Houston

• Buying the Ballot: Political Actors and Official Ballot Initiative Language - Stan Nguyen Oklobdzija, University of California, Riverside; Patrick Mitchell Downey, Stockholm University

• Gender Differences in Bill Writing: An Examination of State Legislative Bills - Tessa Provins, University of Pittsburgh; Mary Kroeger, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• The Polarization of Immigration Policy in the US States - Asya Magazinnik, MIT; Zeyu Peng, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chair

• Thad Kousser University of California, San Diego

Discussant

• Christopher Warshaw George Washington University