Where you sit is where you stand: education-based descriptive representation and perceptions of democratic quality

Scholars of descriptive representation have paid growing attention to the issue class. This article contributes this line research by examining educational (mis)match elected officials and citizens they serve. Using data from an original paired elite-mass survey experiment, it investigates whether judgements democratic quality are affected education-based representation. The study reveals limited evidence in support idea that politicians value sociotropic terms. Instead, provides strong affinity effects where judgments influenced representation, or lack thereof, favours based on their own background. An important exception though without higher education, whose assessments unaffected ends with a discussion implications these findings for existing future research.