Donald J. Devine

Conservatism Scores Stabilize in 2005
As Both Parties Prepare for Critical
2006 Election

The vice chairman's assessment

As legislators faced the critical 2006 congressional election, voting patterns in 2005 remained on the course set the previous year of both political parties returning to their base constituencies. Republicans have become more conservative and Democrats more liberal than during George W. Bush’s first term, when both were voting for issues they hoped would attract unattached voters. This is the same pattern in both houses of Congress that has been the predominant pattern since Republicans gained control of Congress in 1994.

Facing the historic sixth year of a presidential term in which the party affiliated with the executive typically loses seats, Republicans have unified with a desire to overcome the trend. To a significant degree the apparent ideological intensity is an artificial reflection of the way GOP Congressional leaders try to hold votes only when the party is unified. This is apparent when one recognizes the increases in domestic government spending and explosion of earmarks that have taken place under a Republican Congress whose conservatism should have discouraged such legislative action.

The return to the basic pattern is best illustrated in comparing ratings over recent years. In 2005, 38 Republicans scored a perfect 100% conservative rating, including newly elected House Majority Leader John Boehner (OH) and Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence (IN). This is down from 48 members scoring a perfect 100% rating in 2004, indicating the greater difficulty of holding the ideological line given the pressures to unify around the previous GOP leadership. Yet, both years represented more conservatism than in 2003, when only two Congressmen received perfect scores.

Overall, the House produced 186 members with an ACU rating of 80% or higher—our definition of a conservative, all Republicans. The two Democrats with the highest rating were Dan Boren (OK) and Lincoln Davis (TN), each with a 64% score. At the other end of the spectrum, 155 members rated a liberal rating of 20% or less, all of whom were Democrats except Christopher Shays (CT). A total of 65 Democrats earned a perfect liberal rating of zero, a significant increase over the 48 receiving a zero rating in 2004.

In the Senate, 12 GOP Senators received a perfect 100% conservative rating in 2005,
compared to eight in 2004, and none in 2003. Perfect conservative scores were earned by George Allen (VA), Sam Brownback (KS), Conrad Burns (MT), Tom Coburn (OK), Mike Crapo (ID), John Ensign (NV), James Inhofe (OK), Isakson (GA), Jon Kyl (AZ), Mel Martinez (FL), Mitch McConnell (KY), and Pete Sessions (AL).

A substantial 46 Senators scored 80% conservative or above, all Republicans. The Democrat receiving the highest ratings was Ben Nelson (NE) with a score of 60%. Two Republicans scored below 50%, Susan Collins (ME) and Olympia Snowe (ME), both scoring 32%. Indicative of the significant split in political ideology in the Senate, 40 Senators scored a liberal rating of 20% or less—all Democrats except Lincoln Chafee (RI). Among these, eight scored a rating of zero, including Jon Corzine (NJ), Richard Durbin (IL), Edward Kennedy (MA), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Patrick Leahy (VT), Patty Murray (WA), Jack Reed (RI), and Paul Sarbanes (MD).

Donald Devine is a vice chairman of the American Conservative Union.