Substantive Religious Representation in the U.S. Senate Voting Alignment with the Family Research Council

Studies of representation are widespread in the congressional literature, with recent work focusing on both descriptive and substantive representation of various minority groups. The authors focus on religious representation in Congress, examining the extent to which senators ’ own religious affiliation and the relative size of their religious constituencies affect substantive representation of Religious Right interests. The authors find that Christian senators (evangelical Protestants, conservative Catholics, and Mormons alike) provide better representation of the Religious Right, as do senators from states with larger Christian constituencies. The findings demonstrate that substantive representation is the product of characteristics of both the representatives and the represented