When Politicians Pander: The Influence of Social Movements on Politicians' Voting

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 18. The Tea Party

Abstract

Why do some politicians pander to social movements? Dominant approaches stress that politicians' voting is shaped by their responsiveness to centrist public opinion or by a desire to pursue their own policy goals (\citealt{tumin_1953}). In this article, however, I develop a ``learned balance'' model of political choice to demonstrate that public support and movement activity exerts more or less influence on voting behavior, depending on a politician's electoral strength and recent electoral history. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of the influence of the Tea Party Movement on voting in the 112th U.S. Congress shows that politicians choose to align their voting behavior with movements when they are challengers and were recently elected (which serves as a mandate for action), and when public support is weak but movement presence and activity are strong.

Author

• Burrel James Vann, University of California, Irvine