Who Should Get a Say? Race, Law Enforcement Guidelines, and Systems of Representation

Abstract

Most citizens agree that legislators should reflect their constituencies' stances. Yet constituents rarely speak in a single voice. Instead, constituents often vary not only in their policy preferences, but also in the degree to which a given policy impacts their lives. Politicians thus at times pursue targeted representation, offering increased input to especially affected groups. As efforts to address anti-Black police misconduct make clear, such measures can protect vulnerable minority groups—but they may also be perceived to sideline the less-affected majority. We fielded two national survey experiments to investigate how Americans respond when legislators give more attention to some citizens than others. Results suggest that members of targeted groups react more positively on average than nonmembers and that reactions among nonmembers are strongly driven by racial resentment. The impact of racial resentment is largely unaffected by the race and partisanship of the politician proposing the measure, but it is exacerbated in cases of a clear preference conflict between the African American community and the broader constituency.