RightDataUSA


Jim Bunning

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 23, 1931 in Southgate, KY
Died: May 26, 2017 in Fort Thomas, KY

Education:

  • Xavier University, B.S., 1953

Career:

  • Professional baseball player, 1950-1971
  • Investment broker/agent

Elected Office:

  • Ft. Thomas city council, 1977-1979
  • KY Senate, 1979-1983


Election Results for Jim Bunning


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1983 51 KY R Governor Primary 1 72,808 74.4%
1983 51 KY R Governor General 2 454,650 44.1%
1986 54 KY R U.S. House District 04 General 1 67,626 55.1%
1988 56 KY R U.S. House District 04 General 1 145,609 74.2%
1990 58 KY R U.S. House District 04 General 1 101,680 69.3%
1992 60 KY R U.S. House District 04 General 1 139,634 61.6%
1994 62 KY R U.S. House District 04 General 1 96,695 74.1%
1996 64 KY R U.S. House District 04 General 1 149,135 68.4%
1998 66 KY R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 152,493 74.3%
1998 66 KY R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 569,817 49.7%
2004 72 KY R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 96,545 84.0%
2004 72 KY R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 873,507 50.7%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Jim Bunning


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1987 55 House 95 5 95 4 R 74 24 98 4 87
1988 56 House 97 0 92 3 R 65 29 96 0 100
1989 57 House 88 10 95 3 R 78 17 98 5 96
1990 58 House 96 2 94 2 R 71 28 97 6 87
1991 59 House 97 3 94 4 R 76 23 97 10 100
1992 60 House 85 8 89 6 R 77 21 95 11 90
1993 61 House 84 14 94 4 D 26 73 98 10 100
1994 62 House 83 17 95 4 D 31 69 99 5 95
1995 63 House 94 4 97 2 D 19 81 99 0 92
1996 64 House 98 2 96 4 D 33 67 99 5 100
1997 65 House 95 4 93 5 D 27 72 98 0 92
1998 66 House 98 2 90 8 D 20 77 99 0 92
1999 67 Senate 95 5 94 4 D 24 76 98 0 100
2000 68 Senate 98 2 94 2 D 33 67 96 5 100
2001 69 Senate 96 3 R 94 5 98 0 100
2002 70 Senate 96 3 R 94 4 97 0 100
2003 71 Senate 97 1 R 97 0 97 10 85
2004 72 Senate 93 2 R 90 5 96 15 100
2005 73 Senate 98 2 R 87 11 99 5 92
2006 74 Senate 92 3 R 87 10 94 0 96
2007 75 Senate 93 5 R 82 14 98 11 92
2008 76 Senate 90 5 R 72 24 94 5 88
2009 77 Senate 89 3 D 32 65 92 0 95
2010 78 Senate 92 2 D 32 57 94 0 95
Lifetime conservative rating:   95%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.