As Voters Head to the Polls, Will They Perceive a “Culture of Corruption?”

Abstract

by James A. McCann, Purdue University David P. Redlawsk, University of Iowa Depublican Congressman Duke Cunningham resigns after pleading guilty to bribery. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is indicted and forced to relinquish his leadership position, and later resigns from Congress. House Demo crat William Jefferson is stripped of his posi tion on the Ways and Means Committee after an FBI raid of his congressional office and amid reports that he hid $90,000 in alleged bribes in a freezer at his home. Stories of wrongdoing in government surface almost daily as members of Congress come under a microscope for close ties to lobbyists. As the 2006 congressional elections approach, Demo crats have made a central theme in their campaigns, arguing that a series of scan dals adds up to a full-blown of corrup tion. In response, Republicans have rejected this characterization and attempted to point the finger back at Democrats, suggesting that peo ple who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. For the Democrats' charge of a culture of corruption to stick, two conditions must hold. First, voters must accept that is commonplace-even a way of life-for those in and around the fed eral government. Sec ond, citizens have to place the blame for this squarely, or at least largely, on the Republican Party. We consider these two themes below. Do citizens perceive in the many trans actions and decisions that take place every day in politics? And if so, can Democrats use these judgments to their advantage?