Ideology and Voting (Post #5)

Given the environmentalist background of Senator Rockefeller (D-WV), his strong support of nationalized health, and his leadership position within the Democratic party one could anticipate a rather liberal agenda coming out of the Senator's camp. Coupling this with the fact that he is no longer facing reelection, theorist like Mayhew would predict that Rockefeller's voting behaviors would move even further into party positioning as the Senator would be less inclined to listen to the growing Republican voice in West Virginia and more inclined to vote as a trustee of the constituent voice (as he sees fit). 

 How liberal can a Rockefeller really be? Turns out pretty liberal.

If we look at the Senator's DW-NOMINATE scores for the 110th, 111th, and 112th Congresses (prior to the last election, facing the last election, and now after the last election), we find that his voting behavior did in fact move more to the center upon facing reelection and has now again moved towards more liberal choices with his votes. Comparing Senator Rockefeller against his fellow members, the scores show that he ranked 26th most liberal member in the senate in the 110th, moved down to 32rd during his election year, and again moved back up to 26th in the 112th. 

Beyond being generally liberal, Rockefeller largely follows party voting behavior, but his party unity vote has consistently dropped over the last four Congresses. Choosing to follow the party position on 98% of votes in the 110th Congress, 97% in the 111th Congress, and 96% in the 112th, his record now stands at 94%  in line with the Democratic position for the 113th (Washington Post). This may have indicated a desire to appease Republican voters in his district during the last election cycle, but it doesn't follow that his percentage would continue to drop even after reelection and despite retirement. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that he no longer requires party support for campaigning.


Although he is known to willingly criticize the President on issues, according to the Congressional Quarterly Press Senator Rockefeller voted in agreement with the President Obama's position 96% of the time in 2011 and 99% of the time in 2012. Perhaps the relatively low 2011 number has to do with the widespread unpopularity of the President in West Virginia while the Senator faced reelection (Mayhew may have something here).

In addition to largely voting in line with his Party and the President, Rockefeller is considered an ADA "Hero" voting in line with their position 100% of the time. And generally supports left leaning interest groups (Planned Parenthood, Citizens for Tax Justice, ACLU,  Affirmative Action and Education Interests groups) while being largely unsupportive of conservative interest groups. Project Vote Smart (a non-profit, non-partisan research organization) compiles the percentage of votes members of Congress make that are in line with certain interest groups. Senator Rockefeller's can be viewed here.

Senator Rockefeller is known to have crossed the line on a number of industrial and small business issues that are in the interest of West Virginia's mining economy as well as education and veterans initiatives. According to the Congressional Quarterly, Jay Rockefeller was even one of the top 10 Democratic Supporters of President Bush in 2008 (a statistic he was unable to claim in support of President Obama until after his declared retirement). I guess in the end a Rockefeller can't be 100% liberal.

*From the Congressional Quarterly's Presidential Support 2008 Report

http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/file.php?path=/files/wr20121231-03prezsupport-cht8.pdf

http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/file.php?path=/files/wr20120116-02prezsupport-cht8.pdf

http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/file.php?path=/files/wr20110103-01prezsupport-cht4.pdf

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/R000361 

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate/members/

http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/53360/jay-rockefeller-iv

http://www.voteview.com 

http://www.rockefeller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/issues