Multi-Level Credit Claiming

• In Event: Representation and Re-election in State Legislatures

Abstract

Federal grants to state and local governments have increased dramatically over recent years. This forces coordination across multiple levels of government. Often times, leaving the line of credit towards a specific project murky. This paper asks: how do voters respond to these complex intergovernmental relationships? I argue that voters reward their in-partisans for providing goods, but that political knowledge moderates this relationship. Nevertheless, officials at multiple levels of government are able to “credit claim” for the same program. I then use an original survey experiment to provide evidence for my theory.

Author

• Doug Murdoch, Southern Utah University