Polls: The Ignorance Factor

Because its members must face reelection every two years, the House of Representatives is much more sensitive to the moods of the nation than is the Senate, whose members enjoy the relative security of six-year terms. Or so goes the conventional wisdom. This theory is sometimes invoked to explain major disagreements between the House and Senate, as, for example, the one over this summer's Cooper-Church amendment. The House, said to be echoing popular opinion, was considerably more sympathetic to the President's Cambodian policy than was the Senate.

But a new Louis Harris poll suggests another interpretation based on what might be called the ignorance factor. According to Harris, more than half of the voters in the U.S. do not even know the name or party of their Congressman. Thus even fewer voters know how he votes in general, and very few indeed are aware of how he has voted on any specific measure. Senators and their voting records are much better publicized. Therefore it may be that Representatives could enjoy a kind of independence through relative anonymity, a greater freedom than Senators to "vote their consciences." It is a freedom that is probably seldom savored, however. For one thing, pressures from well informed lobbies—such as labor and farm groups—are inhibiting. Besides, no politician worthy of the name can admit that most of his constituents neither know nor care who he is.