The Congressional Representation of Muslim-American Constituents

Legislators' responsiveness to constituency preferences is an accepted cornerstone of American representative democracy. Focusing on key domestic anti-terrorism votes during the 109th Congress, this study explores whether or not the presence of Muslim-Americans in a district influenced House me...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Martin, Shane 1974- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2009]
In: Politics and religion
Year: 2009, Volume: 2, Issue: 2, Pages: 230-246
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:Legislators' responsiveness to constituency preferences is an accepted cornerstone of American representative democracy. Focusing on key domestic anti-terrorism votes during the 109th Congress, this study explores whether or not the presence of Muslim-Americans in a district influenced House members' roll-call behavior. We apply and test two competing theories of representation: the congruence theory and the minority backlash hypothesis. Using original data on Muslim-American constituency size, our analysis indicates little evidence of a representational backlash and some evidence that both Democratic and Republican members are positively responsive in their roll-call behavior to the presence of Muslim voters in their districts.
ISSN:1755-0491
Contains:Enthalten in: Politics and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S1755048309000212