The Representational Deficit of Latinxs in the U.S. House of Representatives

Abstract

This paper explores the extent to which Latinxs were substantively represented in the 112th U.S. House of Representatives (2011–2013). We make use of a large national sample of Americans to tap into the congruence of the attitudes of constituents with actual roll call votes taken by their legislators in office. In doing so, we are able to make comparisons between constituent attitudes and legislative behavior for Latinx versus non-Latinx constituents. Using a more refined measure than previous studies of constituent-legislator dyads across congressional districts, we find that Latinx respondents face a representational deficit relative to non-Latinx whites and explore the various factors, individual- and contextual-level, that explain variation in that relationship. One such factor is the size of the Latinx population in a district. We find that larger Latinx populations are associated with decreased representation for Latinx respondents and, further, that this deficit is largely rooted in anti-Latinx attitudes and behavior on the part of non-Latinx whites in those districts. On the whole, the findings here are consistent with the backlash hypothesis.