This is the third in a series of weekly blog posts summarizing the findings in our latest report, "What Americans Want from Congress & How Members Can Build Trust."
From 2015-2020, CMF collaborated with the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland to ask national samples of registered voters about their interactions with their elected representatives in Congress. We wanted to gain a better understanding of what voters want and expect as well as what would improve their trust in Congress. One of the key findings from the surveys was that voters find it acceptable for Members of Congress to vote contrary to their views if they trust it was for valid reasons.
For instance, one of the surveys conducted by CMF indicated that a small percentage of constituents would feel anger if their representatives did not vote in accordance with their stance on a particular issue (7%). However, a larger number of voters indicated that they would feel "somewhat" angry if representative votes differently (33%). At the same time, we must keep in mind that the results of this particular survey arrived without any reassurance that Members took their constituents' views into account.
The following finding has more promising results. When we asked participants how they would feel if their representative votes contrary to their views – knowing their views were taken into account – a larger group of constituents indicated that it would be acceptable (78%). Furthermore, 22% of constituents said that their feelings were “very well” described when they were asked the question below.
Furthermore, confidence among constituents grows when they feel their Congressional Representatives have their interest – not special interest – in mind. For example, voters indicated that they would find it acceptable when their Representative votes contrary to their views as long as they thought it was best (84%). At the same time, 39% of constituents indicated that this statement represents their feelings “very well.” Also, the percentage of voters that did not contact their Members and agree with this statement remains very close to those who have contacted their Representative (84.3%). This is a truly positive outcome even though trust among constituents towards Congress has declined.
Overall, as long as constituents feel confident their elected officials are considering their views when making a decision, voters tend to find it acceptable. As shown in the figure below, we can see a significant increase of constituent support towards Members when they are not influenced by special interest groups. Lastly, as we have repeatedly mentioned, Member-constituent communication is very important when building trust.
Hanzell Carrillo is a senior at Nazareth College majoring in Political Science. He is CMF's Research Assistant intern for Spring 2021.
