Life in the middle : marginalized moderate senators in the era of polarization

Author / Creator

Chaturvedi, Neilan S. author

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Online

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Summary

"For almost 30 years, political scientists have believed that the Senate would be less affected by partisan polarization due to the existence of a handful of moderate senators who would act as powe...

"For almost 30 years, political scientists have believed that the Senate would be less affected by partisan polarization due to the existence of a handful of moderate senators who would act as power brokers between the two sides, yet year after year we see partisan gridlock. Life in the Middle argues that the belief in the powerful, pivotal moderate neglects their electoral circumstances, and overestimates their legislative power. Indeed, not all senators are elected under equal circumstances where the modern centrist has to balance between two conflicting constituencies like Susan Collins in Maine, or represents a state where the opposition outnumbers their base like Joe Manchin in West Virginia. Using data compiled from the Congressional Record, the book examines the legislative behaviour of moderates and find that they seldom amend legislation to their preferences, rarely speak on the record, and often lose on final votes. Using unique interview data with 19 legislative directors and six retired centrist senators, it also finds that the behind the scenes conversations mirror the on-stage behaviour where centrists are not influential or viewed as pivotal by party leaders. Furthermore, moderates reported less satisfaction with legislative outcomes than their peers. Life in the Middle suggests that law-making needs to be re-evaluated as being much more variable and less reliant on the work of moderates and more on party leaders. Indeed, the mainstream concerns about polarization and its negative effects of increased gridlock and ideological legislation may be true"--

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