Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

When Party Does Not Matter: An Examination Of Conditions That Influence A Senator To Vote Against Party Leadership, Alexander Phillip Collins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The United States Senate as the upper chamber of the United States Congress possesses great power and responsibility. The way that the 100 men and women who make up the chamber vote has long been of importance to those of us in the field of political science. This paper will look at influences that affect a senator’s decision to vote against leadership. The research will test these influences simultaneously in order to find the degrees of influence each has. The research will focus on the Senate from 1994 – 2008, when the Gingrich senators led to an increasingly polarized body …