Quarterly Journal of Political Science > Vol 3 > Issue 3

Where You Sit is Where You Stand: The Impact of Seating Proximity on Legislative Cue-Taking

Seth E. Masket, Political Science, University of Denver, USA, smasket@du.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Seth E. Masket (2008), "Where You Sit is Where You Stand: The Impact of Seating Proximity on Legislative Cue-Taking", Quarterly Journal of Political Science: Vol. 3: No. 3, pp 301-311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00007058

Publication Date: 24 Oct 2008
© 2008 S. E. Masket
 
Subjects
Legislatures,  Political parties,  Lawmaking
 

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In this article:
Methodology and Data Selection 
Results 
Discussion 
References 

Abstract

This article builds on Matthews and Stimson's (1975) study of legislative cuetaking, analyzing the extent to which legislators sitting next to each other influence each others' voting behavior. Data come from three decades of roll call votes in the California Assembly, a chamber in which each member is paired with a deskmate. By comparing deskmate pairs with nondeskmate pairs, I find that legislators vote identically to their deskmates on a sizeable subset of roll calls. This deskmate effect appears to remain strong even as a rival influence — legislative partisanship — increases in strength.

DOI:10.1561/100.00007058