Congress - Unrepresentative

Question 1

Who are the least represented in Congress?

Answer 1

Not representative of African Americans, Hispanics or women (get most recent statistics from 2018)

Question 2

How is there not a good enough representation in age? What year is this evidence based on?

Answer 2

Year 2014
Average American is 37 years old
Congressmen 57 years old
Senator 62 years old

Therefore more of the older generation is represented compared to the younger generation

Question 3

Congress and representative education

Answer 3

Not representative in education (2014 - 94% of Congress have bachelor degrees)

Question 4

Why is the vote not representative? Give an example

Answer 4

Because of gerrymandering of constituency boundaries which are drawn up by state legislatures

North Carolina 2012 D=50.6% of the vote, R=48.7% yet Republicans won 9/13 House districts available``

Question 5

How many seats in Congress are competitive? Compare this to 1998

Answer 5

Only 20% of seats are competitive i.e are not safe seats (compared to a third in 1998)

Question 6

Does the Senate have equal representation for all states?

Answer 6

Senate has equal representation for all states which can be unfair as smaller states (population) have the same influence and voting power as larger states.

Question 7

Percentage for incumbent rates for re-election?

Answer 7

Incumbent rates for re-election are very high (90+%)