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Source: Interviews with 40 congressional offices.

Key: N and % = number and percent of congressional offices in the sample perceiving a channel as very important or important; R = relative rank of a channel among the 21 channels perceived as very important and the 29 channels perceived as important.

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keeping in close and continuous contact with constituents while the congressman is in Washington.

Depending on the district's distance from Washington, the average

number of trips back to the district per month ranges from one or two for

most Western States congressmen to four or more for many members from the Northeast.

Members from the South, Great Lakes, and Central States regions usually make two or three trips per month. Regional norms seem to hold fairly well, except that some high seniority and politically secure members do return to the district less frequently, especially if they have heavy committee or leadership responsibilities.

And on the other hand, congressmen from politically

marginal districts are likely to visit the district somewhat more often than

average.

When in the district, the pace and distribution of activity varies widely. Congressmen from active urban districts are likely to be on the go continuously with a tight schedule which might include meetings with community leaders and local government officials, public appearances at schools and business clubs, and visits with the local media representatives.

In rural and

mixed districts where the population is more widely dispersed, congressmen generally spend more time moving around the district from town to town, talking with people on the street, and holding public office hours.

2. Written or print channels. The personal letter via Washington is clearly the congressman's most important written channel of constituent communication and ranks fourth among all channels. Of somewhat less but still significant perceived importance are the report or newsletter which ranks tenth and the survey or questionnaire which ranks eleventh. Most congressmen receive several hundred letters a week from constituents, and a major problem is the

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rising volume. Some offices report a 10-15% increase over last year, although data for the House as a whole suggest an annual rate of increase of about

five percent.

Nonetheless, for most purposes, constituents are encouraged to write rather than call or visit, because experience seems to indicate that the act of putting one's ideas down on paper leads to a more articulate and better thought out communication. And many offices do keep at least an approximate count of the mail in order to monitor opinion, while recognizing that only a small minority of constituents (perhaps no more than 5-10%) ever write at all. In order to cope with the mail situation, almost all offices use some kind of automatic typewriter or "robotype" to respond to form letters, petitions, organized interest group mail, and constituent opinion mail on big volume issues. This conserves time for those casework and legislative letters which require an individually drafted reply.

About three-quarters of the offices in the sample send out a survey or questionnaire on a regular basis to every household in the district using the postal patron privilege. But despite this wide use, only 10% of the sample offices perceived questionnaires to be "very important," frequently because the main purposes served are to get the name of the congressman before constituents and to give constituents something to respond to, with only secondary emphasis on actually getting a valid sampling of constituent views. Most everyone seems to agree that questionnaires are quite vulnerable to bias both in the way questions are selected and written, and in the way the responses are interpreted. In addition, relatively few constituents ever complete and return their questionnaire.

The average household response rate

is 9.3%, with a mode and median of 10%, and a range of 2-20%.

The average

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response rate is somewhat higher for districts with Republican congressmen, 12%, as compared to 6.75% for Democratic districts, perhaps in part reflecting the more affluent and educated nature of Republican districts in this sample. While congressmen send many other kinds of printed material to their constituents--Congressional Record reprints, government pamphlets, copies of speeches and bills, and assorted reports and newsletters--the report or newsletter is the only one of these viewed as important, ranking somewhere between the personal letter and questionnaire. Like most everything else, the quality and quantity of congressional newsletter varies dramatically. members place a high priority on trying to educate constituents about current issues and legislation. But more commonly, the newsletter serves to publicize the congressman's recent activities in Washington, present the member's views on current events and legislation, and identify the congressman with various constituent groups and individuals known in the district.

Some

The average frequency in this sample is 4.45 newsletters per year, but with a mode and median of 2-3 per year. Usually one or two newsletters per year go to all postal patrons, with additional reports sent only to more selective mailing lists. There is some indication that the frequency of newsletters falls off with increasing seniority and political security.

3. News media channels. With the exception of letters, the face-toface and written constituent communication channels have at least one charac

teristic in common--their use by the congressman is to a large extent under his own control. In contrast, use of news media channels requires at least a minimum amount of cooperation, interest, and initiative on the part of media reporters and editors. Because such media coverage is generally perceived as

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