Description:
A fresh examination of political representation in an era of negative partisanship.
What does representation look like when politicians focus on "othering" the opposing party rather than the policy interests of their constituents? How do voters react to negative partisan rhetoric? And is policy responsiveness still the cornerstone of American representative democracy?
In How Politicians Polarize, Mia Costa draws on survey experiments, analysis of congressional newsletters and tweets, and data on fundraising and media coverage to examine how and why politicians rely so often on negative partisan attacks. Costa shows that most Americans do not like negative rhetoric, and politicians know this. Nonetheless, these kinds of attacks can reap powerful rewards from national media, donors, and party elites. Costa's findings challenge the popular notion that Americans are motivated more by their partisan identities than by policy representation. Her research illuminates how the political ecosystem rewards negative representation and how this affects the quality of American democracy.
Brief description: Mia Costa is assistant professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, where she is also faculty associate in the Program in Quantitative Social Science. She has published articles in American Journal of Political Science, Politics & Gender, Political Research Quarterly, and Political Behavior, among others.
Review Quotes: "How Politicians Polarize reveals a divide between what politicians do and what people truly want. While Americans themselves reject animosity, Costa shows the process by which politicians are nevertheless rewarded for negative attacks. Her multi-method account offers both assurance that Americans disdain this 'othering' but also a dark warning for how negative representation becomes a dominant strain within US politics."--Samara Klar, coauthor of "Independent Politics"