Voting scores for members of the United States Congress, 1945-1982

Description

Data from this study were taken from the Congressional Quarterly Almanac for the years 1945 to 1982 (79th-97th Congresses). Variables include Congressional Quarterly scores for voting participation, partisan voting, bipartisan voting, (until 1978, when this score was no longer reported), conservative coalition support and opposition, and presidential support and opposition. For the years from 1960 to 1982. Voting scores released by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), the Citizens on Political Education (COPE), the National Farmers Union (NFU), and the Americans for Constitutional Action (ACA) have also been included. Beginning with the 1978 session, NFU rating scores are no longer included. The unit of analysis in this dataset is the individual member of Congress (Representatives and Senators). In most instances a set of scores are presented for each member of Congress, for each session of the Congress, and for the Congress as a whole (both sessions). For the 96th and 97th Congresses (1979-1980, 1981-1982) scores for both sessions combined are not provided. Interest group ratings (i.e. ADA, ACA, etc.) are included only for each session, not for the entire Congresses. The data were prepared, keypunched, and processed from published Congressional Quarterly Almanacs by the ICPSR staff.