Replication Data for Opportunities to Govern: How to Increase the Supply of Moderate and Qualified Candidates

The state of American politics would be generally improved, many argue, if more moderate and more qualified people served in government. In this paper, we investigate what draws such individuals to run for elected office, focusing on a dimension of politics that has received scant attention within the candidate-entry literature—namely, the ability of candidates, once elected, to exercise meaningful influence and change public policy. In a ratings-based conjoint survey experiment, we find that the opportunity to wield greater authority increases moderates’ interest in seeking public office, whereas extremists appear indifferent; and that more qualified people express more interest in running for office when greater authority is vested in an office, the threshold needed to pass legislation is lower, and staff support is higher. These findings have broad implications for our understanding of political representation, government effectiveness, and the relationship between institutional reform and mass politics.