(2001_2) the graph above shows reelection rates for incumbents in the House and Senate. From this information and your knowledge of of the US politics, perform the following
tasks. (Fig 12.1)
a) identify two patterns displayed in the graph
b) identify 2 factors that contribute to incumbency advantage. Explain how each factor contributes to incumbency advantage.
c) Discuss one consequence of incumbency advantage for the US political process
The above graph shows reelection rates for incumbents in the House and Senate. The red represents Senator incumbents reelection rates and the blue represents House Representative incumbents reelection rates. This data is from the year 1946 to 2002. Normally the incumbent reelection rates follow a similar trend and when one goes up or down, the other goes up or down respectively. This trend seems to hold true for most years. In 1986, however, the trend was reversed. As House Representative reelection rates rose, Senate incumbent reelection rates dropped to an all time low.
Incumbents normally have a large advantage over their fellow competitor. This is because as an experienced seat holder, they have certain advantages that first time contenders just dont have. One of these such advantages is credit claiming. In credit claiming, incumbents use what they have done as a weapon against their competitor, who has yet to do anything. This technique works as many voters reason the incumbent already did something favorable and is likely to repeat this action where as the new guy hasn't done anything yet and even after getting re-elected, there is no guarantee he ever will. Another benefit incumbents have over first timers is their popularity. They are already known by many Americans and many people are familiar with their name. They may have connections established from throughout the years and have more impact on decisions as they come up. The classic saying goes, the devil you know so better than the devil you don't.
One consequence of incumbency advantage is that because incumbents have money and feel they will always win, no matter how tough their competitor, few actually try hard to win and put forth the effort needed to be a congress person. Many feel as though they don't have to actually do anything, just sit back and look good while their name does all the work. This leads to a congress that gets little done and congressmen that don't follow through on many, if at all on their plans.
Scoring Rubric: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/repository/sg_govpol_us_01_7046.pdf
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