Political Underrepresentation Among Public Benefits Recipients: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data

Abstract

People receiving government assistance have personal stakes in the political process and intimate knowledge of policy implementation. However, data limitations have made it hard to measure voting among those receiving assistance across various programs. Using linked administrative data from a large county in Pennsylvania, merged with the Pennsylvania voter file, we calculate voting rates among benefits recipients. We find that people receiving means-tested benefits (cash assistance, food assistance, health insurance, disability benefits, childcare, and housing) vote at just over half the rate of other county residents (45 percent compared with 84 percent in 2020). In the 2020 election, public benefits recipients comprised over 20 percent of the voting-eligible population but only 12 percent of voters. To the extent that benefits recipients are more supportive of generous welfare policy than nonrecipients and more familiar with administrative burdens programs impose, this underrepresentation may obscure popular preferences for social welfare provision and shape politicians’ attentiveness to program design.