Understanding and Responding to Constituent Opinion on Capitol Hill

Constituent opinion is recognized as an important influence on the legislative behavior of members of Congress, although to date little attention has been paid to how representatives and their staffers learn about constituency policy preferences and priorities. Drawing on original data from surveys and interviews with congressional staffers, this study offers the first systematic assessment of how offices discern constituent opinion, focusing on how congressional offices treat constituent correspondence as a potentially useful source of information about preferences from their districts. Offices can draw on information ascertained in correspondence to more effectively respond to district opinion in their legislative work. The data reveal variation in correspondence systems as offices take different approaches to how records are kept and how information from contacts is shared within their offices. This indicates that many offices are failing to institute correspondence management practices that allow for contacts from the district to be a meaningful resource about constituent opinion. As a result, office approaches to handling constituent contacts limit the capacity for constituents' letters, emails, and phone calls to Congress to inform legislative actions taken in congressional offices.