The Policy Consequences of Class Bias in State Electorates

Abstract

This paper tests the proposition that an electorate disproportionately representative of higherclass citizens will be rewarded with public policies in favor of its economic interests and at the expense of the interests of lower-class citizens. We find a consistent negative relationship between the degree of class bias favoring the upper class and the generosity of indigenous state social welfare spending. We also find that it is the underrepresentation of the poor, rather than the overrepresentation of the wealthy, that principally explains this relationship. These findings have important implications for democratic theory generally and for present-day concern about the composition of the U.S. electorate.