Worth a Try? The Electoral Consequences of Symbolic Legislation

Despite the prevalence of "symbolic legislating" in the US Congress, little is known about its electoral implications. It is possible that voters reward their legislator’s efforts to move the status quo closer to their position, even if it has no chance of becoming law. On the other hand, because symbolic legislation is doomed to fail, it may decrease a legislator’s perceived effectiveness and, thus, their political support. Alternatively, it is possible that sponsoring symbolic legislation has no impact. In this Short Research Article, we test these competing hypotheses using a survey experiment and observational data. Our experimental results demonstrate that, assuming shared party and issue position, symbolic legislation is strongly rewarded. The effect is even stronger among voters who are most likely to attend to this information in the real world. Finally, we test for this pattern using real-world data on legislators’ behavior and find clear evidence for it.