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Exhibit 704

Is the Water Rising? Reflections on Inequality and American Democracy

Exhibit 704 ยท Journal article (APSA)

Is the Water Rising? Reflections on Inequality and American Democracy

there is no evidence of responsiveness to the views of constituents in the bottom third of the income distribution.

Summarizes the Senate responsiveness regressions: estimates for 1989-1994 roll calls by income third show responsiveness to middle- and upper-third constituents and none to the bottom third. Notes the pattern is 'for a single governmental institution in a single six-year period'. Figure 2 and note 2 give Census-based real family income growth under presidents, 1948-2001: 2.6 percent a year at the 20th percentile and 2.1 percent at the 95th under Democratic presidents; 0.6 percent at the 20th under Republican presidents, with affluent families doing equally well under both. Bartels treats each president's influence as beginning one year after taking office. Describes Gilens's then-unpublished work as a parallel finding.

Source
Larry M. Bartels, PS: Political Science & Politics, January 2006, pp. 39-42
Date
January 2006
Quoted from
p. 40
Grade
Peer-reviewed
Document
https://apsanet.org/Portals/54/files/Task%20Force%20Reports/PSJan06Bartels.pdf
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding POL-2.8
Peer-reviewed Bartels analyzed Senate roll calls from 1989 to 1994 and reported responsiveness to constituents in the middle and upper income thirds and no evidence of responsiveness to the bottom third. His abstract reports that the bottom fifth receives little or no weight, especially from Republican senators.