House and Senate Concurrence with Presidents

House and Senate Concurrence with Presidents
Eisenhower - Clinton I

"Vote concurrence is measured by the number of times a majority of members of Congress vote with the president's position on roll call votes. Member concurrence is the percentage of members who agree with the president's position on a roll call vote. Unlike the usual scholarly focus on success or support, the concurrence measures acknowledge that it is impossible to judge who influenced whom." Ragsdale, Vital Statistics on the Presidency, p. 362

President	Year	Total H & S Concurrence	House		Senate
			concurrence rate	# votes	concurrence rate	# votes

Eisenhower	1953	89.2%	91.2%	34	87.8%	49
	1954	82.8	78.9	38	77.9	77
	1955	75.3	63.4	41	84.6	52
	1956	69.2	73.5	34	67.7	65
	1957	68.4	58.3	60	78.9	57
	1958	75.7	74.0	50	76.5	98
	1959	52.9	55.6	54	50.4	121
	1960	65.1	65.1	43	65.1	86
Average		69.9	68.4		70.7
Total				354		605

Kennedy	1961	81.5	83.1	65	80.6	124
	1962	85.4	85.0	60	85.6	125
	1963	87.1	83.1	71	89.6	115
Average		84.6	83.7		85.2
Total				196		364

Johnson	1964	87.9	88.5	52	87.6	97
	1965	93.1	93.8	112	82.6	162
	1966	78.9	91.3	103	68.8	125
	1967	78.8	75.6	127	81.2	165
	1968	74.5	83.5	103	68.9	164
Average		82.2	85.9		79.7
Total				497		713

Nixon	1969	74.8	72.3	47	76.4	72
	1970	76.9	84.6	65	71.4	91
	1971	74.8	82.5	57	69.5	82
	1972	66.3	81.1	37	54.3	46
	1973	50.6	48.0	125	52.4	185
	1974	59.6	67.9	53	54.2	83
Average		64.3	68.2		61.5
Total				384		559

Ford	1974	58.2	59.3	54	57.4	68
	1975	61.0	50.6	89	71.0	93
	1976	53.8	43.1	51	64.2	53
Average		58.3	51.0		65.0
Total				194		214

Carter	1977	75.4	74.7	79	76.1	88
	1978	78.3	69.9	112	84.8	151
	1979	76.8	71.7	145	81.4	161
	1980	75.1	76.9	117	73.3	116
Average		76.6	73.1		79.7
Total				453		516

Reagan	1981	82.4	72.4	76	88.3	128
	1982	72.4	55.8	77	83.2	119
	1983	67.1	47.6	82	85.9	85
	1984	65.8	52.2	113	85.7	77
	1985	59.9	45.0	80	71.6	102
	1986	56.5	33.3	90	80.7	83
	1987	43.5	33.3	99	56.4	78
	1988	47.4	32.7	104	64.8	88
Average		62.2	45.6		77.9
Total				721		760

Bush	1989	62.6	50.0	86	73.3	101
	1990	46.8	32.4	108	63.4	93
	1991	54.2	43.2	111	67.5	83
	1992	43.0	37.1	105	53.3	60
Average		51.8	40.2		65.6
Total				410		337

Clinton	1993	86.4	87.3	102	85.4	89
	1994	86.3	87.2	78	85.5	62
	1995	36.2	26.3	133	49.0	102
	1996	55.1	53.2	79	57.6	59
Average		66.0	63.5		69.4
Total				392		312

Source: Harold Stanley and Richard Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics, 1997-1998 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998), 248-49.

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