Do Congressional Scandals Affect Legislation Sponsorship?
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Dr. Brooke Conaway
Abstract
When considering the effects of scandals on politicians, the majority of research focuses on election outcomes and fails to analyze the behavioral outcomes of the politician. Current research is inconclusive as to whether voters will reelect politicians after scandals, but no other researchers have evaluated whether scandals affect a politician’s sponsorship of legislation. I used unbalanced panel data (2013-2017) from the Library of Congress (2023) and scandals compiled by Miller and Hamel (2021) to estimate the effects of scandals on legislation sponsorship through a linear regression model. My results show scandals do not significantly affect legislation sponsorship, but election years and the race and party of the politician do.
Start Date
27-3-2024 2:20 PM
End Date
27-3-2024 2:28 PM
Location
Atkinson 107
Do Congressional Scandals Affect Legislation Sponsorship?
Atkinson 107
When considering the effects of scandals on politicians, the majority of research focuses on election outcomes and fails to analyze the behavioral outcomes of the politician. Current research is inconclusive as to whether voters will reelect politicians after scandals, but no other researchers have evaluated whether scandals affect a politician’s sponsorship of legislation. I used unbalanced panel data (2013-2017) from the Library of Congress (2023) and scandals compiled by Miller and Hamel (2021) to estimate the effects of scandals on legislation sponsorship through a linear regression model. My results show scandals do not significantly affect legislation sponsorship, but election years and the race and party of the politician do.