Because its members must face reelection every two years, the House of Representatives is much more sensitive to the moods of the nation than is the Senate, whose members enjoy the relative security of six-year terms. Or so goes the conventional wisdom. This theory is sometimes invoked to explain major disagreements between the House and Senate, as, for example, the one over this summer's Cooper-Church amendment. The House, said to be echoing popular opinion, was considerably more sympathetic to the President's Cambodian policy than was the Senate.
But a new Louis Harris poll suggests another interpretation based on what might...