Political representation of religious groups. Do those elected to the U.S. House of Representatives really “represent”

their constituents demographically? This was a question of interest in Chance (Summer 2002). One of several demographics studied was religious affiliation. The table in the next column gives the proportion of the U.S. population for several religions, as well as the number of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives affiliated with that religion.

Give your opinion on whether the members of the House of Representatives are statistically representative of the religious affiliation of their constituents in the United States.

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.28 Religion Catholic Methodist Proportion of U.S. Population Number of Seats in House 117 .04 61 Jewish .02 30 Other .66 227 Totals 1.00 435