Are Less Affluent People Less Likely to Run for Political Office?

Abstract In almost all democracies, elected officials are better off than most of the citizens they represent. Recent research has shown that this descriptive misrepresentation is partly due to voter and party bias against less well‐off candidates. In this paper, we explore a third possible explanation: Are less affluent people less likely to run for political office than well‐off people? To answer this question, we draw on original data from two Swiss surveys, one of citizens and one of local officials. Our results show that affluent citizens and politicians are no more likely to run for political office than less affluent citizens. Moreover, people with higher incomes are less likely to run. In addition, conformity seems to moderate the relationship between income and higher political ambition. These findings suggest that misrepresentation of specific groups might not be based on candidate self‐selection, but party recruitment and voter discrimination.