What is constituency?

Famous quotes containing the word constituency:

“My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected and the despised.”
—Jesse Jackson (b. 1941)

“But also the constituency determines the vote of the representative. He is not only representative, but participant. Like can only be known by like. The reason why he knows about them is, that he is of them; he has just come out of nature, or from being a part of the thing.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

“Social Security is a government program with a constituency made up of the old, the near old and those who hope or fear to grow old. After 215 years of trying, we have finally discovered a special interest that includes 100 percent of the population. Now we can vote ourselves rich.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)