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Objective. Symbolic benefits are among the results attributed to increased black political participation. This research explores awareness of the race of the respondent's state senator, a precondition of receipt of symbolic benefits by the black community. African Americans unaware that their senator is black will receive no symbolic benefits from descriptive representation. Methods. Data were gathered by the Florida Survey Research Center in six southern state senate districts, of which three had black senators. Results. Most blacks—as well as most whites—represented by an African American senator were unaware of that fact. Larger percentages of both groups knew the race of their senator when he or she was white than when black. Respondents who knew their senator's name were more likely to also know the legislator's race. African Americans represented by black senators were significantly less likely to know their legislator's race. Conclusions. Black voters' awareness of the name or race of their black senator is in line with other research into voter knowledge about candidates for other offices. To the extent that having black senators provides symbolic benefits, those benefits may go to a thin strata of the politically active.

Objective. Symbolic benefits are among the results attributed to increased black political participation. This research explores awareness of the race of the respondent's state senator, a precondition of receipt of symbolic benefits by the black community. African Americans unaware that their senator is black will receive no symbolic benefits from descriptive representation. Methods. Data were gathered by the Florida Survey Research Center in six southern state senate districts, of which three had black senators. Results. Most blacks -- as well as most whites -- represented by an African American senator were unaware of that fact. Larger percentages of both groups knew the race of their senator when he or she was white than when black. Respondents who knew their senator's name were more likely to also know the legislator's race. African Americans represented by black senators were significantly less likely to know their legislator's race. Conclusions. Black voters' awareness of the name or race of their black senator is in line with other research into voter knowledge about candidates for other offices. To the extent that having black senators provides symbolic benefits, those benefits may go to a thin strata of the politically active. 2 Tables, 24 References. Adapted from the source document.

It has been suggested that differences in voter recognition of candidates may cause variations in partisan defection rates, which could account for chamber differences in reelection rates. This defection hypothesis is tested here using survey data from 1956-1980. The rates at which party identifiers defect from their party's Senate and House nominees are compared. Although the pattern for all Senate races parallels that for all House races, there have been differences in the anticipated direction since 1970. Defection patterns in recent Senate elections have not, however, been less pro-incumbent, which is what the high proportion of defeats among incumbent senators would lead us to expect.

The Great Recession exacerbated health care spending as a share of total revenue for local governments through the combination of decreased revenues and increased health plan premiums. This event forced the hand of local governments to choose between making layoffs, cutting services, or reducing employee benefits. Understanding more about why and how they did so is imperative for improving how local governments structure benefits during times of economic stability or surplus and also how they react during future economic downturns. In this study, a national survey of city and county administrators ( N = 822) was conducted to understand if and how local governments introduced health plan burdens to their employees in response to the Great Recession. While a majority of local governments did not introduce significant health plan burdens to their employees, when a burden was introduced it was distributed disproportionately to current and future employees while protecting retired employees.

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), passed to correct the abuses of surface mining, assigned key implementation roles to the states. While the federal government originally enforced SMCRA, states could operate the program themselves. Once states decided to run their own program the federal government would oversee them to insure they properly enforce the Act. This research examines the enforcement behavior of states in the 1980s. The results indicate that early in the Reagan administration eastern states enforced the SMCRA less stringently than other states. Eastern states increased their level of enforcement later in the 1980s in response to pressures for increased federal oversight from Congress, interest groups and others.