Comparing interest group scores across time and chambers; adjusted ADA scores for the U.S. Congress
By: GROSECLOSE, Tim
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Contributor(s): LEVITT, Steven D | SNYDER JR., James M.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, March 1999American Political Science Review 93, 1, p. 33-50Abstract: Without question, the 1974 House elections that brought an influx of "Watergate babies" caused the House to become more liberal. Despite this, however, both the median and mean rating of House members by the conservative interest group Americans for Constitutional Action (ACA) rose between 1974 and 1975 (Groseclose 1994). While a naive comparison of ACA scores from these two years would suggest that the House became more conservative, the perverse result is surely due instead to the ACA shifting its scales, not to a true change in House preferences.
Without question, the 1974 House elections that brought an influx of "Watergate babies" caused the House to become more liberal. Despite this, however, both the median and mean rating of House members by the conservative interest group Americans for Constitutional Action (ACA) rose between 1974 and 1975 (Groseclose 1994). While a naive comparison of ACA scores from these two years would suggest that the House became more conservative, the perverse result is surely due instead to the ACA shifting its scales, not to a true change in House preferences.
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