Constituency Opinion and PAC Contributions: A Case of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League

To test whether interest group politics doharm to a representative democracy, thispaper simulates congressionaldistrict-level constituency opinion onabortion. Analyzing the relationshipbetween the constituency opinion andNARAL's contributions in the 102nd and103rd Congresses, this paper presentsempirical evidence that NARAL'scontribution decision is influenced byconstituency opinion. The evidence,however, is mixed. Constituency opinioninfluences NARAL's decision on who will getits money. Constituency opinion, however,does not influence NARAL's decision on whowill get more money. According to theseresults, financial representation byinterest groups does not seriously causeharm to a representative democracy, but itcan still bias the representativeness tosome extent. An interest group may selectlegislators whose districts support itsposition less strongly and contribute agreater amount of money to the legislators.