Replication Data for: Is It Us? Is It Them? Or Is It This Place? Predicting Civility in State Legislatures

While many scholars and analysts have observed a decline in civility in recent years, there have been few examinations of how political, economic, and institutional structures may partially explain inter-state differences in these trends. We suggest three potential explanations: 1) institutional structures, such as legislative professionalism and gubernatorial power, have created different contexts in which legislators build and maintain inter-personal relationships; 2) partisan competition has led to less bipartisan cooperation and contributed to strained relationships between members of different parties; and, 3) economic inequity and change has contributed to economic anxiety among citizens, contributing to conflict in legislative bodies as elected officials attempt to navigate emerging policy challenges. To test these explanations, we develop an innovative measure of civility using a national survey of lobbyists and a partial Multiple Regression Postestimation (MRP) design. Findings suggest that there is some validity to all three explanations, and signifying that civility is at least partially a result of structural issues

尽管诸多学者与分析人士均注意到，近年来社会交往中的文明礼貌程度呈下滑趋势，但目前鲜有研究探讨政治、经济与制度结构可在多大程度上部分解释各州间这一趋势的差异。本研究提出三项潜在解释：其一，制度结构（如立法职业化与州长权力）塑造了差异化的情境，使得议员得以构建并维持人际互动关系；其二，党派竞争导致两党合作减少，加剧了不同党派议员间的关系紧张；其三，经济不平等与经济变革引发了民众的经济焦虑，而当选官员在应对新兴政策挑战时，这种焦虑又会加剧立法机构内部的冲突。为验证上述解释，本研究通过针对游说者的全国性调查与偏多重回归后估计（Partial Multiple Regression Postestimation, MRP）方法，构建了一项创新性的文明程度衡量指标。研究结果显示，三项解释均具备一定合理性，同时表明文明礼貌程度至少在一定程度上是结构性问题的产物。