The Role of Race, Ethnicity, and Party on Attitudes Toward Descriptive Representation

• Author: Sophia J. Wallace,Jason P. Casellas
• Published date: 01 January 2015
• Date: 01 January 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X14535239
• Subject Matter: Articles

American Politics Research

2015, Vol. 43(1) 144 –169

© The Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X14535239

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Article

The Role of Race,

Ethnicity, and

Party on Attitudes

Toward Descriptive

Representation

Jason P. Casellas1 and Sophia J. Wallace2

Abstract

Using original survey data from the Cooperative Congressional Election

Survey (CCES), we examine variation in racial and ethnic group and partisan

attitudes toward legislators and representation. Respondents were asked

about their views on descriptive representation, its importance for their

own elected official, and whether it was important to have more descriptive

representatives in general. Using respondents’ personal characteristics such

as education, partisanship, race, ethnicity, income, and race and ethnicity

of their House of Representatives member, we analyze the impact of these

variables on attitudes toward representation. We find that Latino and

Black respondents place a high level of importance on having descriptive

representatives in their own districts in addition to articulating a high

degree of importance to having more representatives from their respective

group. However, Latino Republicans place less importance on descriptive

representation overall than Latino non-Republican respondents. Non-Latino

Republicans also place importance on more legislators of their same race or

ethnicity. The findings have implications for democratic governance as the

demographics of the United States rapidly changes.

1University of Houston, TX, USA

2Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jason P. Casellas, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Houston,

447 Phillip Guthrie Hoffman Hall, Houston, TX 77204, USA.

Email: jcasellas@uh.edu

535239APRXXX10.1177/1532673X14535239American Politics ResearchCasellas and Wallace

research-article2014

Casellas and Wallace 145

Keywords

representation, race, ethnicity, partisanship

Introduction

Political scientists have thought about representation in a variety of ways.

Descriptive representation occurs when a member of a legislature shares the

same race, ethnicity, or gender as an individual whereas substantive represen-

tation refers to the actions of the legislator on behalf of constituents

(Mansbridge, 1999; Pitkin, 1967). The purpose of a representative is to act as

a liaison between individuals and institutions within government. Members

must navigate the legislative process while advocating on their constituents’

behalf in addition to cultivating constituencies that will support them in re-

election (Fenno, 1978; Mayhew, 1974). This article embraces the role of the

representative to explicitly examine minority group attitudes toward repre-

sentation and how they may differ from the White majority population. This

angle of representation is important given the history of discrimination,

exclusion, and under-representation of minorities in the political process. In

the 113th Congress, 67% of the total number of voting members in the House

and Senate are White men, whereas only 8% are African American and 6%

are Latino. Compared with their national populations of 37%, 12%, and 16%,

respectively, White men appear to be vastly overrepresented in Congress,

while racial and ethnic minorities are considerably under-represented.

The subject of this article is especially pressing given the Supreme Court’s

ruling in Shelby County v. Holder in June 2013 narrowly holding that Section

4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Section 4(b) prescribes a

formula used to determine which jurisdictions are covered under Section 5 of

the Act. While the Court did not explicitly strike down Section 5 and its pre-

clearance requirement by the Justice Department or the DC Circuit Court of

Appeals, there can be no Section 5 without Section 4(b). Congress must

rewrite the coverage formula in compliance with Shelby for preclearance to

return to the states with a prior history of disenfranchisement. This ruling has

alarmed voting rights activists who have been successful in litigating illegal

redistricting plans in many Southern states that violated the rights of minority

voters. Given that many minority officeholders gained office in the redistrict-

ing rounds following the enactment of the Voting Rights Act often via major-

ity–minority districts, this article gives us a strong sense of how people feel

about these minority officeholders and the value of having representatives

who look like them.

This research seeks to understand how constituents assess the amount and

importance of descriptive representation. An investigation of public attitudes