• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Demographics of the US Congress in 2020

PhDeac

PhDeac

PM a mod to cement your internet status forever
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
155,067
Reaction score
22,071
vzbwokyvhij51.png
 
Here is the OP and comments:
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeau...w_representative_are_the_representatives_the/


Here is the data for the chart as posted on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeau...entative_are_the_representatives_the/g31ajs3/

Religion Data: Pew - Faith on the Hill Pew Religious Survey,
Race/Ethinicity Data: Congressional Research Service, US Census
Gender Data: Congressional Research Service, US Census
Made with Excel
My notes:
-Data includes both the Senate and the House, for a total of 535 elected representatives (280 Dem and 255 Rep)
- By far and wide, the most underrepresented category in Congress is Unaffiliated/No religion/Atheists/Agnostics. While this group constitutes a whopping 25% of Americans (that's 1 in 4, or more than 80 million), only a single congressperson (Sinema - raised Mormon and currently non-affiliated with any religion) out of more than 500 is openly unaffiliated. This was according to Pew. Wikipedia reports 4 more (although this seems to be less whether they are openly non affiliated with any religion or simply it is not known), but that's still a total of only 5. One does keep in mind that elected politicians are usually older, and older people are more religious (although even over 65 more than 13% of people are non-religious).

- Similarly to above, keep in mind the difference between population, citizens, and voters (especially because of age). Voters are going to be less ethnically diverse because they do not include non-citizen immigrants (recent immigration tends to be non-white) and because they are older. Additionally, older white voters tend to vote a lot, hence Congress is a bit more demographically representative of the voter pool than it is to the general population.
- The Democratic Party is fairly well represented among religious and ethnic minorities. Interestingly, Jews, Catholics, and African-Americans/Blacks tend to be over-represented in the Democratic party. This isn't a coincidence, as these groups were the core of the Dem party in the 20th century. And while many older Catholics have voted Republican recently, this has been adjusted with the influx of Latino Catholics in the Dem party.

- The 2 or more races/ethnicity is hard to quantify and represent, hence why it's currently lacking in my images. This is because I decided to represent each congressperson equally, so those with more than one ethnicity were split 50/50 among the bins. It's a small number anyways (they're all spelled out in the CRS document if you want to read through). Kamala for example is among these

-White Christian males makes up around ~23% of the population, but account for a whopping 85% of Republican representatives (and about 28% of Democratic representatives).
-Finally, this isn't meant to be in any way judgmental, political, or trying to make a point. I just was curious to look at how demographics are reflected in the US population and in each party's Congressional representation.
Click to expand...

 
remember when the cornerstone of jhmd's social safety net argument was that Dems were just whites pandering to blacks and minorities and thought they were too dumb/lazy/shifty to go pull themselves up by the bootstraps - and instead just essentially paid for their votes with entitlements?




that-was-awesome-5a99e6.jpg
 
Oh that’s good.
 
I hate reality tv but I'd watch Teen Senator.
 
There is rampant ageism on this board that goes unchecked.

If you don't believe me, check the RJKarl threads where we house our resident elderly lunatic instead of allowing him to interact with everyone openly and on his own doted and antiquated terms.
 
So, the most under-represented group are the non-religious?
 
I’m sure there is some percentage that just give lip service to being Christian to win elections and for the most part are
Non-religious.
 
Louis Gossett Jr said:
I’m sure there is some percentage that just give lip service to being Christian to win elections and for the most part are
Non-religious.
Click to expand...

No question. On both sides.
 
I can think of a few important demographics not considered in that data or represented in Congress - class demographics being the major one.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
I can think of a few important demographics not considered in that data or represented in Congress - class demographics being the major one.
Click to expand...

Definitely. Harder to get data on that one.
 
Louis Gossett Jr said:
I’m sure there is some percentage that just give lip service to being Christian to win elections and for the most part are
Non-religious.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite classic movies is Spartacus, and the Roman Senator Gracchus (Charles Laughton) has a great line at one point where he buys a bird from a supporter to be sacrificed to the gods to bless a military campaign. Julius Caesar, another Senator, is surprised and tells Gracchus "I didn't know you believed in the gods", and Gracchus responds "Privately, I believe in none of them, publicly, I believe in them all." That line still applies to modern politicians and preachers (say, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Trump) as much as ever.
 
TIL there are three Buddhists in Congress. rad!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top