How does the age makeup of democratic institutions affect public evaluations of their legitimacy? This paper tests whether incorporating younger representatives into a bipartisan state legislative committee changes citizens’ views of procedure, trust and decisions. Using experimental variation and observational comparisons, the authors link age composition to shifts in perceived fairness and trust while assessing who responds most to youth representation.
Survey experiment State legislatures Youth-focused effects
Data and methods
The study uses a survey experiment conducted in the United States that varies the age composition of a bipartisan state legislative committee and the committee’s decisions. The abstract also reports observational evidence from US state legislatures and a replication experiment in the United Kingdom, which the authors use to compare and extend the experimental results across contexts.
Main findings
The authors report that including younger members increased perceptions of procedural fairness and institutional trust, and led to more favorable evaluations of decisions on lower-salience policies. Effects were larger among younger respondents and among Democrats. The abstract indicates evidence on mechanisms: legitimacy gains appear linked to beliefs that younger politicians are more attuned to young people’s experiences and concerns.
- Experimental evidence from the US is complemented by observational data from US state legislatures and a replication in the UK.
- Reported effects are qualified by variation across respondent age and partisan identification.
