Congressional Representation - Research Paper Example

Moreover, ideology, policy preferences and the nature of information received etc can also affect the Congressmen while they vote. In short, “congressional voting on specific bills is correlated with the economic self-interest of the representative's constituents and a measure of the representative's ideology” as indicated by his broader voting record”(Bender, 1991, p.1) This paper briefly analyses various reasons why congressmen vote the way they do, and how their constituencies at times play a large role in that.

The role of Hannah Pitkin’s theory; substantive vs. descriptive representation in controlling the voting behaviour of the Congressmen is also analysed in this paper. Factors which influence Congressmen while they vote Fellow Congressmen can influence a Congressman very much while he takes decisions upon certain topic. Fellow congressmen can act as the source of lots of information which may influence the Congressman while he takes decision about a particular topic. In most of the cases, Congressmen may engage in mutual discussion both in and out of the office and that also formally and informally.

All these discussions will bring lot of new information which may affect the decision making process of the Congressmen. . Thus fellow congressmen have wider influence on the decision making abilities of a particular congressman. The influence of Constituent is another major factor which controls the voting of the Congressmen. “The constituency imposes some meaningful constraints on Congressmen’s voting behaviour”(Kingdon, 1989, p.68). Moreover, “a basic principle of representative democracy is that elected officials must pay homage to their districts if they wish to secure reelection” (Crespin, n. d. p.2).It is difficult for congressmen to sacrifice the interests of the people in their constituencies since they need the support of the people for their re-election.

In other words, a congressman who has planned to seek re-election should vote in accordance with the interests of the people in their constituencies. Only on issues that the constituency doesn't feel strongly, the Congressman may think of taking an independent decision. Ultimately, the congressmen have the moral responsibility or liability to explain his stands to the people in his constituencies since the people are the ones who elected him. Party leadership and the committee members can also influence the decision making or the voting of the congressmen.

“The degree of party cohesions affects the voting behaviour of the congressmen”(Froman, 1963, p.57). Each party may have a well defined stand on all policy matters. In most of the cases, the congressmen vote in favour of his party’s stands. However, in many cases, congressmen take stands which are different from that of his party. For example, many democrats opposed Obama’s healthcare reform bill along with the republicans. If the president is popular in the constituency, the congressman will extend greater support to the policies of the