Fenno's paradox is the idea that people generally disapprove of the United States Congress as a whole but often support the congressmen from their own congressional districts. The paradox is named after political scientist Richard Fenno, who discussed this phenomenon in his 1978 book Home Style: House Members in Their Districts.[1] Fenno claimed that congressmen would often run against Congress.[2]
Fenno's paradox has also been applied to areas other than politics, such as the public school system. For example, U.S. citizens on the whole disapprove of the public school system[3][4] but tend to approve of the particular local schools their children attend.[5]
Fenno's paradox also refers to the paradoxical phenomenon by which individual members of Congress tend to have higher approval ratings among their constituents compared to the overall approval rating of Congress as a whole. This discrepancy is often attributed to the advantages of incumbency, which include increased visibility, personal connections with constituents, and the ability to deliver benefits to their districts. The paradox highlights the complex relationship between public opinion and electoral outcomes in representative democracies.
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives. The U.S. vice president has a vote in the Senate only when senators are evenly divided. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members.
In the United States, politics function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legislative body comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate; the executive branch, which is headed by the president of the United States, who serves as the country's head of state and government; and the judicial branch, composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and which exercises judicial power.
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
The Congress of the Philippines is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially the term "Congress" commonly refers to just the latter, and an upper body, the Senate. The House of Representatives meets in the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City while the Senate meets in the GSIS Building in Pasay.
Michael Dennis Rogers is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 3rd congressional district since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party of Alabama. Rogers served as the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee from 2021 to 2023 and as the Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee from 2019 to 2021.
John Walter Olver was an American politician and chemist who was the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district from 1991 to 2013. Raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, Olver graduated from college at the age of 18 and went on to earn a PhD in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later taught chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for eight years.
Congressional staff are employees of the United States Congress or individual members of Congress. The position first developed in the late 19th century, and it expanded significantly during the 20th century. Staffers may work with individual members of Congress, or they may be associated with committees or other organizations that support Congress.
James Joseph Delaney was an American politician from New York. He was a member of the Democratic Party and served 16 terms in the House of Representatives from 1945 to 1947 and from 1949 to 1978.
In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were first conducted by George Gallup to gauge public support for the president of the United States during their term. An approval rating is a percentage determined by polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who approve of a particular person or program. Typically, an approval rating is given to a politician based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that particular political figure. A question might ask: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the current president is handling their job as president?"
Richard Francis Fenno Jr. was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work on the U.S. Congress and its members. He was a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Rochester. He published numerous books and scholarly articles focused on how members of Congress interacted with each other, with committees, and with constituents. Political scientists considered the research groundbreaking and startlingly original and gave him numerous awards. Many followed his research design on how to follow members from Washington back to their home districts. Fenno was best known for identifying the tendency — dubbed "Fenno's Paradox" — of how most voters say they dislike Congress as a whole, but they trust and reelect their local Congressman.
Godlove Stein Orth was a United States representative from Indiana and an acting Lieutenant Governor of Indiana.
A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner voting, winner-takes-all, single-member constituencies or single-member electorates.
The First Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, also known as the Postwar Congress, and the Liberation Congress, refers to the meeting of the bicameral legislature composed of the Senate and House of Representatives, from 1945 to 1946. The meeting only convened after the reestablishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1945 when President Sergio Osmeña called it to hold five special sessions. Osmeña had replaced Manuel L. Quezon as president after the former died in exile in the United States in 1944.
United States Congress and citizens describes the relation between the public and lawmakers. Essentially, American citizens elect members of Congress every two years who have the duty to represent their interests in the national legislature of the United States. All congressional officials try to serve two distinct purposes which sometimes overlap––representing their constituents and making laws for the nation. There has been debate throughout American history about how to straddle these dual obligations of representing the wishes of citizens while at the same time trying to keep mindful of the needs of the entire nation. Often, compromise is required.
Congress: The Electoral Connection is a book by David Mayhew, first published in 1974, that applies rational choice theory to the actions of American Congressmen. Mayhew argues that Congressmen are motivated by re-election.
The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the D.C. Council. In addition, the mayor oversees all district services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and the district public school system. The mayor's office oversees an annual district budget of $8.8 billion. The mayor's executive office is located in the John A. Wilson Building in Downtown Washington, D.C. The mayor appoints several officers, including the deputy mayors for Education and Planning & Economic Development, the district administrator, the chancellor of the district's public schools, and the department heads of the district agencies.
The distributive tendency is the propensity of the United States Congress to lean towards distributive politics, especially to gain political support and credit claim. Through the distributive tendency, Congress’ bills evolve over the drafting process to become more broad and reaching with their benefits. Legislation that follows the distributive tendency has benefits that flow to many districts and can come in many forms, though in current day they are often monetary.
This is a list of opinion polls taken on the presidency of Joe Biden in 2022. To navigate between years, see opinion polling on the Joe Biden administration.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
