To identify how Congress could better represent the US population, let’s review the provided chart and analyze the data categories.
1. Age Representation:
- Congress: Majority are age 30 or older.
- The United States: Majority are age 34 or older.
Since both groups are already represented by individuals aged 30 or older, electing more members over the age of 60 is not necessarily a way to better represent the population.
2. Educational Attainment:
- Congress: Majority have a four-year college degree.
- The United States: 32% have a four-year college degree.
Electing more members with college degrees is not needed because Congress already has a higher percentage of members with college degrees than the general population.
3. Gender Representation:
- Congress: 24% women.
- The United States: 51% women.
This data indicates that women are underrepresented in Congress relative to the US population. Electing more women would help enhance representation.
4. Financial Status:
- Congress: Majority are millionaires.
- The United States: Minority are millionaires.
This indicates that the wealth status of Congress members does not match the general population, but electing more members in the top percent of wage earners would not help in representing the average citizen's financial status.
5. Racial and Ethnic Diversity:
- Congress: 10% African American, 7% Hispanic.
- The United States: 13% African American, 18% Hispanic or Latino.
Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in Congress relative to the general population. Therefore, electing more members of races and ethnicities other than White would better represent the diversity of the US population.
Given this analysis:
- Electing more members who are over the age of 60 is not needed since the age representation is already aligned with the general population.
- Electing more members of races and ethnicities other than White will help address racial and ethnic underrepresentation.
- Electing more members in the top percent of wage earners does not align with the goal of better representing the average citizen’s financial situation since most of the population is not in the top wage-earning bracket.
- Electing more members with college degrees is redundant, as the educational attainment in Congress already surpasses the general population.
Therefore, Congress could better represent the US population by:
- Electing more members of races and ethnicities other than White.
