American politicians overestimate how conservative their constituents are
[Research finds] that legislators consistently believe their constituents are more conservative than they actually are.
This includes Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. But conservative legislators generally overestimate the conservatism of their constituents by 20 points.
“This difference is so large that nearly half of conservative politicians appear to believe that they represent a district that is more conservative on these issues than the most conservative district in the entire country,” Broockman and Skovron write.
This finding held up across a range of issues. Here, for example, are their findings for health care and same-sex marriage.
