Ideology, Party, and Opinion: Explaining Individual Legislator ACA Implementation Votes in the States
In: State politics & policy quarterly: the official journal of the State Politics and Policy section of the American Political Science Association, Band 18, Heft 4, S. 371-394
ISSN: 1946-1607
Abstract
Why do state legislators vote the way they do? Which influence is
predominant: ideology, party, or public opinion? The implementation votes
surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides a unique setting to
examine this question, as they make all three considerations highly salient.
State roll call votes on ACA implementation were sometimes polarized and
sometimes unexpectedly bipartisan. What accounts for the heterogeneity in
individual legislator behavior on bills implementing the ACA at the state
level? Using new data on legislator ideology and votes from 2011–2015, I
show evidence that legislator ideology was by far the most important
predictor of voting on implementation votes, far more so than legislator
party or public opinion. Moreover, I show the influence of ideology is
heterogeneous by issue area and bill.