This review essay illustrates the importance and utility of studying political equality among rich and poor citizens at the state level, reviews what is known in three key areas of political equality research in the states (unequal rates of political participation, unequal government responsiveness to citizens’ political opinions, and public policy and inequality), and suggests possible future avenues of inquiry. The ultimate aim is to organize and integrate existing knowledge about political equality in the American states and spur future investigations that will further extend understanding among researchers and practitioners of state politics.
AveryJames M.2015. Does who votes matter? Income bias in voter turnout and economic inequality in the American States from 1980 to 2010. Political Behavior37:955–76.
2.
AveryJames M.PeffleyMark. 2005. Voter registration requirements, voter turnout, and welfare eligibility policy: Class bias matters. State Politics & Policy Quarterly5:47–67.
3.
BarrilleauxCharlesDavisBelinda Creel. 2003. Explaining state-level variations in levels and change in the distribution of income in the United States, 1978–1990. American Politics Research31:280–300.
4.
BartelsLarry M.2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of a New Gilded Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
5.
BerinskyAdam J.2005. The perverse consequences of electoral reform in the United States. American Politics Research33:471–91.
6.
BerinskyAdam J.BurnsNancyTraugottMichael W.. 2001. Who votes by mail? A dynamic model of the individual-level consequences of voting-by-mail systems. Public Opinion Quarterly65:178–97.
7.
BlakelyTony A.KennedyBruce P.KawachiIchiro. 2001. Socioeconomic inequality in voting participation and self-rated health. American Journal of Public Health91:99–104.
BurnhamWalter Dean. 1987. The turnout problem. In Elections American Style, ed. by James ReichleyA., 97–133. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
10.
BursteinPaul. 2003. The impact of public opinion on public policy: A review and an agenda. Political Research Quarterly56:29–40.
11.
EllisChristopher. 2012. Understanding economic biases in representation income, resources, and policy representation in the 110th house. Political Research Quarterly65:938–51.
12.
EllisChristopher. 2013. Social context and economic biases in representation. Journal of Politics75:773–86.
13.
EnnsPeter K.KellyNathan J.MorganJanaVolschoThomasWitkoChristopher. 2014. Conditional status quo bias and top income shares: How US political institutions have benefited the rich. Journal of Politics76:289–303.
14.
EriksonRobert S.WrightGerald C.McIverJohn P.. 1993. Statehouse democracy: Public opinion and policy in the American states. New York: Cambridge University Press.
15.
EriksonRobert S.MacKuenMichael B.StimsonJames A.. 2002. The macro polity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
16.
FellowesMatthew C.RoweGretchen. 2004. Politics and the new American welfare states. American Journal of Political Science48:362–73.
17.
FlavinPatrick. 2012. Income inequality and policy representation in the American states. American Politics Research40:29–59.
18.
FlavinPatrick. 2014. State campaign finance laws and the equality of political representation. Election Law Journal13:362–74.
19.
FlavinPatrick. 2015a. Campaign finance laws, policy outcomes, and political equality in the American States. Political Research Quarterly68:77–88.
20.
FlavinPatrick. 2015b. Lobbying regulations and political equality in the American states. American Politics Research43:304–26.
21.
FlavinPatrick. 2016. Labor union strength and the equality of political representation. British Journal of Political Science. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123416000302
22.
FlavinPatrickFrankoWilliam W.. 2016. Government’s unequal attentiveness to citizens’ political priorities. Policy Studies Journal. doi: 10.1111/psj.12184
23.
FrankoWilliam W.2013. Political inequality and state policy adoption: Predatory lending, children’s health care, and minimum wage. Poverty & Public Policy5:88–114.
24.
FrankoWilliam W.2015. More equal than we thought? Using vote validation to better understand participation inequality in the states. State Politics & Policy Quarterly15:91–114.
25.
FrankoWilliam W.KellyNathan J.WitkoChristopher. 2016. Class bias in voter turnout, representation, and income inequality. Perspectives on Politics14:351–68.
26.
FreundElizabeth A.MorrisIrwin L.. 2005. The lottery and income inequality in the States. Social Science Quarterly86:996–1012.
27.
GilensMartin. 1999. Why Americans hate welfare: Race, media, and the politics of antipoverty policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
28.
GilensMartin. 2005. Inequality and democratic responsiveness. Public Opinion Quarterly69:778–96.
29.
GilensMartin. 2012. Affluence and influence: Economic inequality and political power in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30.
GilensMartinPageBenjamin I.. 2014. Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics12:564–81.
31.
HackerJacob S.PiersonPaul. 2010. Winner-take-all politics: How Washington made the rich richer—And turned its back on the middle class. New York: Simon & Schuster.
32.
HanmerMichael J.2009. Discount voting: Voter registration reforms and their effects. New York: Cambridge University Press.
33.
HatchMegan E.RigbyElizabeth. 2015. Laboratories of (in)equality? Redistributive policy and income inequality in the American states. Policy Studies Journal43:163–87.
34.
HayesThomas J.2012. Responsiveness in an era of inequality: The case of the US senate. Political Research Quarterly66:585–99.
35.
HayesThomas J.Xavier Medina VidalD.. 2015. Fiscal policy and economic inequality in the US states: Taxing and spending from 1976 to 2006. Political Research Quarterly68:392–407.
36.
HillKim QuaileLeighleyJan E.. 1992. The policy consequences of class bias in state electorates. American Journal of Political Science36:351–65.
37.
HillKim QuaileHinton-AndersonAngela. 1995. Pathways of representation: A causal analysis of public opinion-policy linkages. American Journal of Political Science39:924–35.
38.
HillKim QuaileLeighleyJan E.. 1996. Political parties and class mobilization in contemporary United States elections. American Journal of Political Science40:787–804.
39.
JacksonRobert A.BrownRobert D.WrightGerald C.. 1998. Registration, turnout, and the electoral representativeness of US state electorates. American Politics Quarterly26:259–87.
40.
JacobsLawrence R.SkocpolTheda, eds. 2005. Inequality and American democracy: What we know and what we need to learn. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
41.
KarpJeffrey A.BanducciSusan A.. 2000. Going postal: How all-mail elections influence turnout. Political Behavior22:223–39.
42.
KellyNathan J.2005. Political choice, public policy, and distributional outcomes. American Journal of Political Science49:865–80.
43.
KellyNathan J.2009. The politics of income inequality in the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.
44.
KellyNathan J.WitkoChristopher. 2012. Federalism and American inequality. Journal of Politics74:414–26.
45.
KellyNathan J.WitkoChristopher. 2014. Government ideology and unemployment in the US states. State Politics & Policy Quarterly14:389–413.
46.
KeyValdimer Orlando. 1949. Southern politics in state and nation. New York: Knopf.
47.
KeyValdimer Orlando. 1961. Public opinion and American democracy. New York: Knopf.
48.
KnackStephenWhiteJames. 2000. Election-day registration and turnout inequality. Political Behavior22:29–44.
49.
LangerLaura. 2001. The consequences of state economic development strategies on income distribution in the American states, 1976 to 1994. American Politics Research29:392–415.
50.
LeighleyJan E.NaglerJonathan. 2007. Unions, voter turnout, and class bias in the US electorate, 1964–2004. Journal of Politics69:430–41.
51.
LeighleyJan E.NaglerJonathan. 2013. Who Votes Now?: Demographics, Issues, Inequality, and Turnout in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
52.
MonroeAlan D.1998. Public opinion and public policy, 1980–1993. Public Opinion Quarterly62:6–28.
53.
NewmanKatherine S.O’BrienRourke. 2011. Taxing the poor: Doing damage to the truly disadvantaged. Berkeley: University of California Press.
54.
NiceDavid C.1983. Representation in the states: Policymaking and ideology. Social Science Quarterly64:404–11.
55.
PageBenjamin I.ShapiroRobert Y.. 1983. Effects of public opinion on policy. American Political Science Review77:175–90.
56.
RadcliffBenjaminSaizMartin. 1998. Labor organization and public policy in the American states. Journal of Politics60:113–25.
57.
RigbyElizabethSpringerMelanie J.. 2011. Does electoral reform increase (or decrease) political equality?Political Research Quarterly64:420–34.
58.
RigbyElizabethWrightGerald C.. 2011. Whose statehouse democracy? Policy responsiveness to poor versus rich constituents in poor versus rich states. In Who gets represented?, ed. by EnnsPeter K.WlezienChristopher, 189–222. New York: Russell Sage.
59.
RigbyElizabethWrightGerald C.. 2013. Political parties and representation of the poor in the American states. American Journal of Political Science57:552–65.
60.
RosenstoneSteven J.HansenJohn Mark. 1993. Mobilization, participation, and democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.
61.
SchattschneiderElmer Eric. 1960. The Semi-sovereign people: A realist’s view of democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
62.
SchlozmanKay LehmanVerbaSidneyBradyHenry E.. 2012. The unheavenly chorus: Unequal political voice and the broken promise of American democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
63.
SoltFrederick. 2010. Does economic inequality depress electoral participation? Testing the Schattschneider hypothesis. Political Behavior32:285–301.
64.
VerbaSidney. 2003. Would the dream of political equality turn out to be a nightmare?Perspectives on Politics1:663–79.
65.
VerbaSidneyNieNorman H.. 1972. Participation in America. New York: Harper & Row.
66.
VerbaSidneySchlozmanKay LehmanBradyHenry E.. 1995. Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
67.
VolschoThomas W.KellyNathan J.. 2012. The rise of the super-rich power resources, taxes, financial markets, and the dynamics of the top 1 percent, 1949 to 2008. American Sociological Review77:679–99.
68.
WichowskyAmber. 2012. Competition, party dollars, and income bias in voter turnout, 1980–2008. Journal of Politics74:446–59.
69.
WitkoChristopherNewmarkAdam J.. 2005. Business mobilization and public policy in the US states. Social Science Quarterly86:356–67.
70.
WolfingerRaymond E.RosenstoneSteven J.. 1980. Who Votes?New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
