“Culture War” Replaces “Fiscal Discipline” Republican Voting Analysis Confirms

The Institute for Legislative Analysis has just released the most expansive study on U.S. Congressional voting trends – nearly 65,000 votes – finding Republican lawmakers voted for the “conservative position” on cultural and social issues 97.33% of the time, but for the limited government position on tax and fiscal issues just 50.63% of the time.

View all 535 Members of Congress Ranked Most Progressive to Most Conservative

The study found more than half of Republicans (146 of 275) voted for the progressive position on fiscal issues more often than the conservative. But on cultural issues (abortion, LGBTQ and gender ideology, and race) all but 23 Republicans voted at least 90% of the time for the conservative position.

“The data confirms what many have suspected – the Tea Party movement is officially dead. The Republican party is in a new movement grounded on populism and focused on winning the culture wars,” said Ryan McGowan, CEO of the Institute for Legislative Analysis. “The recent bankruptcy of FreedomWorks coupled with significant ideological shifts within major conservative institutions will likely further gravitate Republican lawmakers to this new policy agenda”. 

The 55-page congressional study also found the following:

• Across all policy issues Republicans voted with the limited government position 77.05% of the time compared to Democrats voting with the progressive position 92.52% of the time.
• Democrat voting patterns are more progressive compared to last session, with 34 Representatives now voting to the Left of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 26 Senators voting to the Left of Bernie Sanders.
• Democrats are generally very unison in their voting, but fractures are emerging on immigration and criminal justice reform – with more Democrats starting to prioritize border security and law and order. 
• The bill signage and veto history of President Joe Biden aligned with the progressive position 92.31% of the time placing him in the middle of the pack amongst Democratic members of congress.

The Institute for Legislative Analysis is a national public policy research organization and datahub. The Washingtonian recently named ILA’s CEO Ryan McGowan among the top 500 most influential people shaping policy due to ILA’s research. For media inquiries, please contact press@limitedgov.org.