How American Democracy Insures Electoral Accountability in Congress

• In Event: Gerrymandering

Brief Overview

An essential component of democracy is the extent to which citizens hold legislators accountable via credible threats of electoral defeat. We show the probability of defeat for incumbents in the US House is high and constant for over sixty years.

Authors

• Daniel Ebanks, Harvard University

• Gary King, Harvard University

• Jonathan N. N. Katz, Caltech