Graphic detail | Punching above their weight

Upper legislative houses tend to be biased and malapportioned

Variation in district sizes benefits conservatives, but not in lower chambers

Left-of-centre Americans often bemoan their country’s Senate, in which each state gets two seats regardless of population. This has always given the least populous states extra sway in the upper chamber of Congress. But in recent years, smaller states have become more Republican, and Democrats have called for reform.

This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline “Punching above their weight”

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