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The Policy Substance of Legislative Ideology
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The Policy Substance of Legislative Ideology

Adam Cayton
Legislative studies quarterly, Vol.46(3), pp.679-712
08/2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/lsq.12299
Web of Science ID: WOS:000698984000005

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Abstract

Congress Content Analysis Ideology polarization Government Studies Political Science United States
Ideological differences in Congress are often presented as disagreement over what the government should do, but no study has systematically measured the policy instruments in bills. This article uses an original data set of policy instruments in all substantive House bills from 2007 to 2012 to test an argument about the kinds of instruments that most divide the contemporary ideological/partisan coalitions and uses an exploratory factor analysis of policy substance (combinations of instruments and topics) that lawmakers support to reveal the structure and content of the policy space. The analysis shows that disagreement over whether to increase or decrease taxes and spending are more divisive than disagreement over regulations and communication. Policy ideologies are characterized by a dominant economic dimension that is highly correlated with NOMINATE's first dimension, but with lower polarization and explanatory power. A second dimension that is conceptually similar to NOMINATE's second, and many smaller, issue-specific dimensions also exist.

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