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Measuring Legislator Ideology *
Author(s) -
Griffin John D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2008.00535.x
Subject(s) - legislator , ideology , measure (data warehouse) , voting , preference , political science , law , computer science , economics , microeconomics , politics , data mining , legislation
Objective. Previous models of roll‐call voting have either ignored the role of legislator ideology or have employed questionable measures of it. A defensible measure of legislator ideology is needed. Methods. This study surveys former members of Congress (MCs) to obtain a new measure of legislator preferences. The measure has several attractive properties, appears to be valid, and is unique compared to a preference measure others have used. Results. Validating the measure in a model of roll‐call voting reveals that the importance of legislators' ideologies is similar to that of their party affiliations. Conclusions. A useful measure of legislators' ideologies can be generated using a postretirement instrument.