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Persily on Redistricting & Public Opinion

By Lawrence Solum

Nathaniel Persily (Columbia Law School) has posted Partisanship, Public Opinion, and Redistricting on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This paper analyzes new survey data on Americans' attitudes concerning the redistricting process. We find, unsurprisingly, that a large share of the population has little knowledge about the redistricting process, but that residents living in a state with a recent redistricting controversy are more likely to hold opinions about the issue. Of those who do have opinions, their attitudes toward the redistricting process are reflective of their attitudes toward government generally. Members of the "out" party are more dissatisfied with the redistricting process when the in-party controls the redistricting process, and satisfaction is generally greatest in states where government is divided between the parties. Consistent with such results, we also find Americans to be strongly supportive of leaving redistricting to an independent commission, as opposed to state legislatures.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on July 02, 2010 (boomark / email).