Author : Steven Rogers
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226827240
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (268 download)
Book Synopsis Accountability in State Legislatures by : Steven Rogers
Download or read book Accountability in State Legislatures written by Steven Rogers and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2023-09-11 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "State legislatures hold tremendous authority over key facets of our lives, in domains ranging from healthcare to education to election administration. And in an era of polarization and frequent policy gridlock at the national level, their significance has only increased. Political scientist Steven Rogers asks what voters know about state legislators, whether they have a meaningful opportunity to register their preferences in state legislative elections, and if there is evidence of accountability for performance in the outcomes of those elections. Drawing on broad-ranging evidence and creative research strategies, Rogers shows that, most often, state legislatures can produce policies contrary to citizens' priorities with little fear of being held accountable at the ballot box. Assembling an encyclopedic range of data on candidacy and retirements, lawmaker issue stances, news coverage, general elections, primaries, electoral competition, legislator effectiveness, state economic performance, public opinion, voter knowledge, and election outcomes, this book foregrounds a major issue: Voters do not know enough about their state representatives. They are often not presented with alternatives in elections where incumbents routinely run unopposed, and outcomes normally fail to correlate with indicators of legislative performance, either for individual lawmakers or in the aggregate performance of state government"--