Wealthy Citizens Have More Clout in State Government, but Stricter Lobbying Rules Can Help Close the Gap, Baylor Study Finds

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WACO, Texas (Sept. 16, 2014) — State legislators are more attentive to wealthy citizens’ political opinions compared to poor citizens’ opinions when making policy decisions, but stricter regulations on professional lobbyists can help curb this trend and promote more equal political representation, according to a Baylor University study.
“Stricter lobbying laws are an important tool for ensuring that citizens’ opinions receive more equal consideration when elected officials make important policy decisions,” said researcher Patrick Flavin, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences.

Flavin used public opinion survey data from the 2000, 2004 and 2008 National Annenberg Election Surveys and compared them to state policies to create a measure of how closely income and political influence relate within each state. He then ranked the states in terms of the equality of political representation. States in which rich and poor citizens’ opinions are represented relatively equally score high on the rankings, while states in which the lawmakers almost exclusively represent rich citizens’ opinions score low.
The top two states in terms of the equality of political representation are Montana at No. 1 and Minnesota at No. 2, with Alabama and Mississippi coming in at the low end, at No. 47 and No. 48 respectively. (Hawaii and Alaska were not included in the rankings because of a lack of public opinion survey data for those states.)
***(See below for state rankings for political equality.)
“One common explanation for why affluent citizens tend to be more successful at getting their opinions translated into policy is that industries that tend to share their opinions — such as finance and real estate — are well represented among professional lobbyists in Washington and statehouses across the nation,” Flavin said. “In contrast, disadvantaged citizens do not enjoy the same level of representation among professional lobbyists, and correspondingly exert less influence over the policy decisions made by elected officials.”
In light of this reality, Flavin investigated whether states that impose more restrictions on the activities of professional lobbyists tend to represent citizens’ opinions more equally. Specifically, he looked at the number of different groups required to register as lobbyists, the frequency of reporting requirements, the types of activities that are prohibited and disclosure requirements.
His statistical analysis revealed that states with more restrictions on professional lobbyists tend to be the most politically equal in terms of representing the political opinions of both the rich and the poor. Flavin explains that “unlike the federal government in Washington where one uniform set of laws governs lobbyists, the states vary, sometimes dramatically. Therefore, we can learn a lot about what types of laws and institutions promote greater political equality by focusing our attention on the states.”
Ranking States from Most Equal Political Representation to Least Equal
1. Montana
2. Minnesota
3. Oregon
4. South Dakota
5. Vermont
6. California
7. New Mexico
8. Michigan
9. Washington
10. Wisconsin
11. Ohio
12. Nebraska
13. Iowa
14. Pennsylvania
15. West Virginia
16. Arizona
17. Missouri
18. Idaho
19. Rhode Island
20. New Jersey
21. Maine
22. Colorado
23. Illinois
24. Utah
25. Virginia
26. Florida
27. Massachusetts
28. Connecticut
29. Texas
30. Nevada
31. North Carolina
32. Kansas
33. Maryland
34. Kentucky
35. New York
36. Indiana
37. Louisiana
38. Tennessee
39. South Carolina
40. Delaware
41. North Dakota
42. New Hampshire
43. Arkansas
44. Oklahoma
45. Wyoming
46. Georgia
47. Alabama
48. Mississippi
*(Hawaii and Alaska were not included in the National Annenberg Election Surveys.)

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