Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Scholarship on the American Presidency
seems to have reached a consensus that the largest determinants of
Presidential success in the legislative arena is the number of seats
controlled by the President's party, followed by ideological affinity,
and presidential public approval [e.g. Bond and Fleisher 2000; Edwards
1989; Jones 1994; Peterson 1990]. However there is still far more
variance in Congressional voting behavior on Presidential requests left
unexplained than has been explained by these factors. This paper
examines the relationship between the relative popular vote received
the President and the member of Congress at the District level from
1952-2000 and Congressional voting behavior. By looking at each
individual to serve in Congress in the period, I create a panel dataset
that can be analyzed with fixed effects for each individual who has
served in Congress. The panel data analysis finds that, in addition to
the factors identified in the existing literature, relative District
level election results are an important indicator in determining the
level of support members of Congress give to Presidential legislative
requests.