Abstract
SEVERAL recent empirical studies of legislative voting conclude that forces other than the objectively identifiable self-interest of voters in a district influence a representative's voting behavior.1 Each of these studies finds that the explanatory power of a regression of congressional votes on constituent characteristics is improved by including a separate measure of the ideology of the representative in question. The authors of these studies differ, however, with regard to what their respective measures of ideology represent. Kau and Rubin view politicians as accurate representatives of the ideological views of their constituents.2 Kalt and Zupan acknowledge the possibility that ideological voting by representatives reflects the ideology of their constituents. They also accept Downs's3 point that ideology may be an efficient way for politicians to summarize their positions on the issues. They claim, how-
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