Party Messaging in the U.S. House of Representatives

In: Political research quarterly: PRQ ; official journal of the Western Political Science Association and other associations, Band 75, Heft 3, S. 829-845

Abstract

Both Congressional parties compete to promote their own reputations while damaging the opposition party's brand. This behavior affects both policy-making agendas and the party members' communications with the media and constituents. While there has been ample study of partisan influence on legislative agenda-setting and roll call voting behavior, much less is known about the parties' efforts to shape the public debate. This paper analyzes two strategic decisions of parties: the timing of collective efforts to influence the public policy debate and the substantive content of these "party messaging" events. These dynamics are analyzed using a unique dataset of 50,195 one-minute speeches delivered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 2016. We find a pattern of strategic matching—both parties are more likely to engage in concurrent messaging efforts, often on the same issue.