Fractured Parties by Stasi Anthony;

Author:Stasi, Anthony;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic

Figure 3.1 Congressional Approval—By Party (1993–2013). Source: Gallup, December 10, 2013, “Congress Job Approval Drops to All-Time Low for 2013; Approval is 12% in December, up slightly from 9% in November,” (http://www.gallup.com/poll/166196/congress-job-approval-drops-time-low-2013.aspx)

A way to interpret this data is to understand that before 1994, the House of Representatives was in Democratic Party control for four decades. When the Republicans took over both Houses in 1994, they were popular with Republicans and not with most Democrats. That means that they were still able to hold on to an approval rating that was competitive with that of the president.

The above Figure 3.1 graph breaks down approval for Congress by party over a twenty-year period.

Notice how, with the exception of those couple of election cycles surrounding the event of September 11th, congressional approval was never stellar in the last twenty five years. Focusing on the years between 2005 and 2013, we can see a greater disparity between Republicans and Democrats. From 2007 to 2009, the Democratic Party won back Congress and then won the presidency. Democrats polled approved of Congress’s performance.

When considering American politics in Congress and at the executive level from 2001 to 2008, there was a great deal of emotion that played out in poll results. The events of September 11th, followed by a military campaign in Afghanistan, was emotional for the electorate. A controversial war in Iraq was emotional as well.

Looking at the figure from 2011 to 2013, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents seem to be converging on their disappointment with Congress. In other words, as the emotion in the electorate died down, there is one element of general dissatisfaction with Congress that remains steady along all ideological lines. The parties are not winning people over in the electorate.

WHAT TO MAKE OF PARTY UNITY IN CONGRESS

Despite the hostility among ideological Democrats and Republicans, most votes in Congress are along party lines. The battles among ideologues do not occur as much on the House floor as they do in primary battles. Party unity votes have actually increased in this era of inter-party splits. Roll Call has tracked votes indicating party unity in both Houses and the results are telling (see Figure 3.2).

Notice the jump in party unity votes among Democrats from 1985 to about 1992. This was when the Reagan and Bush presidencies were starting to show a mobilization of Democrats in Washington. The trend line, however, shows upticks for both parties from the early 1980s to the present day. In fact, the trend line for party unity votes in the U.S. Senate is quite similar to that of the House of Representatives (see Figure 3.3).

Polarization in the last ten years has been an issue for the two parties in government. One part of this that appears certain is that the major parties are in agreement in how little they will work across the aisle. Tracking how often House and Senate Democrats have voted against a majority of Republicans, there is a jump from decades ago. In 1995 Senate Democrats opposed Republicans with approximately 1200 votes.

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