The Closer Republican and Democratic Senators Sit, the More They Disagree

The researchers found that the closer Republicans and Democrats sat to each other, the less likely they were to vote together. “Our findings suggest that physical proximity is not a strong predictor of bipartisan cooperation in the U.S. Congress,” the study’s authors wrote.

“Our findings suggest that physical proximity is not a strong predictor of bipartisan cooperation in the U.S. Congress,” the study’s authors wrote. The study’s authors said that their findings suggest that other factors, such as political ideology, are more important in determining how likely Republicans and Democrats are to vote together.

If only it were that easy. In fact, seating Republicans and Democrats closer together might make the situation worse, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Toronto. Published in the American Sociological Review, the paper examines how US senators’ voting behavior is affected by the level of interaction between lawmakers. Specifically, how does voting behavior change when senators of different parties sit closer together on the chamber floor or join more committees with each other?

The study found that when Republicans and Democrats sit closer together or join more committees together, their voting behavior becomes more polarized, meaning they vote along party lines more often. This could be because when lawmakers are physically closer to each other, they are more likely to be exposed to each other’s rhetoric and arguments, which may strengthen their resolve to stand by their party’s beliefs.

The study’s coauthors, Christopher Liu of the University of Toronto and Sameer Srivastava of UC-Berkeley looked at voting behavior in the Senate from 1973 to 2009. Their findings were as follows: Senators from the same party tended to converge in their voting behavior when they interacted more. If they sat closer together or joined more of the same committees, they later voted similarly. However, under the same conditions, senators from different parties who interacted more tended to vote differently. In other words, when Republicans and Democrats sit closer together, their votes move further apart.

When Republicans and Democrats sit closer together, their votes move further apart.

In a polarized setting like the Senate, the study explains, “conflicting identities will become more salient, and the normative pressure to move further apart in their thoughts and actions will intensify.” This means that, in a polarized setting, it can be better for Republicans and Democrats to keep some distance between themselves.

Srivastava has found that the closer two senators sit to each other, the more polarized their voting patterns become. This trend is especially pronounced on committees with a history of political divisiveness. However, in committees where members regularly cosponsor bills across party lines, greater interaction does not drive them apart.Inside the 52-by-85-foot US Senate chamber, each senator sits at an assigned desk. Seats are reassigned every two years. The desks are moved to new positions, with senators choosing their spots according to seniority. By tradition, Republicans sit on the left side of the main podium, and Democrats sit on the right. During the moving process, some senators shift closer toward the opposing side, while others shift farther away.The study’s author, Dr. Srivastava, stresses that the study is only intended to demonstrate a social phenomenon that might also hold true in high-stakes situations beyond Capitol Hill. For example, in a corporate setting, similar dynamics might be seen after a high-profile and contentious merger that brings opposing executives onto the same board.The study does not lay out any quick fixes for a more cooperative Congress. 

There’s no magic distance between adversaries that will foster greater compromise. But Srivastava does offer one suggestion: Since the polarizing effects described in the study only apply to situations with opposing and public identities, lawmakers may get along better behind closed doors. “Moving some of the interactions into more private settings could help, possibly,” he explains. But in the end, he says, the main obstacle to compromise may not be where senators sit, but the personalities and beliefs they bring to the room in the first place.

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