A NOTE ON VOTE SELECTION:
Four categories of votes. As the umbrella lobbying group of the conservative movement, ACU tracks a wide range of issues before the Congress, ranging from taxes to abortion, from ballistic missile defenses to term limits. Accordingly, the votes we choose to rate are broken down into four general categories: economic and budget matters; social and cultural issues; defense and foreign policy matters; and issues of institutional reform. We endeavor to analyze a roughly equal number of votes from each category, so that we can obtain a comprehensive picture of an individual Member's ideological predisposition, based on votes cast.
Votes rated on ideological distinction, NOT "most important." Within those four broad areas, ACU selects the votes it rates based on a simple criterion: does the vote reflect a clear ideological distinction in the Congress? Thus, the votes we select to rate are not necessarily those considered the "most important" or the "key" votes of any given congressional session.
And they may not be votes we took a position or lobbied on during floor consideration. They are chosen for one reason, and one reason only: to provide a clear picture of where individual Members of Congress stand on an ideological scale.
Thus, for example, the 1993 vote on NAFTA was not rated, though it clearly was one of the most important votes of the session, in terms of legislative impact. The NAFTA vote was omitted from the 1993 ratings because it was not an ideologically-driven vote: many conservatives voted yes, while a significant number of conservatives voted no. Similarly, many liberals voted no, but a significant number voted yes.
This simple but important criterion is helpful in understanding any perceived differences between a Member's ACU rating and his or her rating from other organizations which provide ratings of Congress, such as the AFL-CIO, the Christian Coalition, or the Chamber of Commerce.
Vote breakdown. For the first session of the 104th Congress, we rated 23 votes in the House, and 22 votes in the Senate. In the House, two votes were double-weighted: final passage on term limits, and the Balanced Budget Act. In the Senate, one vote was double-weighted: the Balanced Budget Act.
The breakdown is as follows:
House Economic/budget 6
Social/cultural 7
Defense/foreign policy 4
Institutional Reform 6
SenateEconomic/budget 6
Social/cultural 8
Defense/foreign policy 2
Institutional Reform 6
WHAT DO THE DATA SHOW?
Two types of analysis. We did two types of analysis on the vote data: the first, a "snapshot" look at the Congress in the first session of the 104th Congress; the second, a "moving picture" look at vote trends over the last ten years.
104th Congress more conservative. The snapshot analysis reveals that the results of the 1994 elections, in which Republicans took control of both House and Senate for the first time in four decades, are reflected in the ideological vote patterns. Both House and Senate showed significant increases in their "conservative quotient," as would be expected.
In the House, there were 31 perfect conservative scores of 100; there were 9 perfect liberal scores of 0. Of the 73 Republican freshmen, there were 15 perfect 100s; thus, though they represent less than one-fifth of the entire House, they accounted for just less than half of all the perfect 100s.
The most conservative Democrat in the House was Ralph Hall, who scored a 76. The most liberal Republican in the House was Connie Morella, who scored a 25.
FYI: Newt Gingrich scored a 100; Dick Armey scored a 92; Tom DeLay scored an 83; John Boehner scored an 88; Dick Gephardt scored a 12; David Bonior scored a 12; Vic Fazio scored an 8.
In the Senate, there were 7 perfect conservative scores of 100; there were 11 perfect liberal scores of 0.
The perfect conservative Senators were Kyl, Smith, Helms, Faircloth, Gramm, Nickles, and Inhofe. The perfect liberal Senators were Boxer, Inouye, Akaka, Sarbanes, Levin, Kerrey, Lautenberg, Bingaman, Moynihan, Leahy, and Murray.
The most conservative Democrat in the Senate was a tie between Jim Exon and Fritz Hollings, both of whom scored a 35. The most liberal Republican in the Senate was Jim Jeffords, who scored a 23.
FYI: Bob Dole scored an 91; Trent Lott scored a 96; Thad Cochran scored an 83; Don Nickles scored a 100; Tom Daschle scored a 4; Wendell Ford scored a 13; Ted Kennedy scored a 4; Chris Dodd scored a 4.
Congress becoming more ideologically polarized. The moving picture analysis, in which voting trends over the last ten years were analyzed, provides evidence for the conventional wisdom that the Congress is becoming more polarized along ideological lines.
Republicans becoming more conservative, Democrats more liberal. In both House and Senate, the analysis indicates that incoming freshman Republicans are voting more conservative than the departing Republicans, and that incoming freshman Democrats are voting more liberal than the departing Democrats. (Use charts for elaboration.)
Opposition provokes partisan and ideological unity. A close analysis of the 1993 and 1995 vote patterns reveals interesting party unity scores. In 1993, when the Democrats controlled the White House for the first time in 12 years, long-suppressed liberal legislation came to the floor for votes. Even liberal Republicans couldn't stomach some of this legislation, and they voted with their more conservative Republican colleagues in opposition. As a result, party unity scores for Republicans were much higher than normal, with most Republicans posting higher conservative scores than would otherwise have been expected.
In 1995, the exact opposite occurred: with conservative legislation coming to the floor for the first time in four decades, it was the Democrats who showed greater ideological unity in opposition, thereby resulting in most Democrats posting higher liberal scores than would otherwise have been expected. Meanwhile, liberal Republicans fractured, resulting in some scores for liberal Republicans that were even lower than usual.