Citizens' Orientations toward Legislatures: Congress and the State Legislature

In democratic societies, consent may rest as much upon citizens' supportive orientations as upon the satisfaction of policy demands. We tapped citizens' support for Congress and the state legislature in one state, Ohio, and then sought to establish the grounding for variations in citizens' supportive orientations. Our data derive from interviews with a sample of Ohioans in the summer of 1988. We asked, "How strongly do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress [the Ohio legislature] is handling its job?" We construct an analytical model of legislative support, and estimate the effects of independent variables using the survey data.