The Demographics of the Modern American Senate and How It Reflects the Modern American Voter

Abstract

As a body intended to accurately represent the people of the United States, the U.S. Senate is not a very diverse group. However, it is the people themselves who vote their representatives into office. In seeking to find what qualities American voters look for in a senator, senatorial longevity is an excellent gauge. Through the analysis of previous studies and literature and the gathering of original data on the senatorial longevity of the 115 Congress, independent variables such as sex, education, and children were analyzed to determine the demographic makeup of the successful American senator; thereby also analyzing the considerations of the American voter and how to appeal to him or her. This research has determined that the only variables of statistical significance with regard to senatorial longevity are sex and number or children. Higher numbers of children correlated positively with more terms served, while sex was determined to correlate negatively with senatorial longevity; thus implying that movements such as third wave feminism have yet to penetrate the modern political atmosphere.