RightDataUSA


John Danforth

[Congressional biography]

Born: September 5, 1936 in St. Louis, MO

Education:

  • Princeton University, 1958
  • Yale University Law School/Divinity School, 1963

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Ordained minister

Elected Office:

  • MO Attorney General, 1969-1976


Election Results for John Danforth


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1968 31 MO R Attorney General Primary 1 161,946 79.5%
1968 31 MO R Attorney General General 1 891,498 52.1%
1970 33 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 165,728 72.5%
1970 33 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 2 617,903 48.1%
1972 35 MO R Attorney General Primary 1 312,991 100.0%
1972 35 MO R Attorney General General 1 1,146,926 62.5%
1976 39 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 284,025 93.5%
1976 39 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,090,067 56.9%
1982 45 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 217,162 73.9%
1982 45 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 784,876 50.8%
1988 51 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 307,649 100.0%
1988 51 MO R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 1,407,416 67.7%


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



Ideology Data for John Danforth


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
1977 40 Senate 81 14 76 20 D 63 31 97 25 62
1978 41 Senate 62 37 41 57 D 74 24 96 25 43
1979 42 Senate 68 29 54 44 D 76 22 97 16 44
1980 43 Senate 66 29 68 26 D 55 40 95 53 43
1981 44 Senate 83 16 84 15 R 85 13 98 25 73
1982 45 Senate 76 18 72 21 R 71 19 92 40 47
1983 46 Senate 64 32 72 27 R 80 16 98 42 32
1984 47 Senate 83 17 85 15 R 86 13 99 37 68
1985 48 Senate 70 20 77 20 R 81 17 96 16 63
1986 49 Senate 82 17 77 21 R 80 20 98 30 52
1987 50 Senate 75 19 68 30 R 60 37 98 35 54
1988 51 Senate 76 22 65 28 R 75 23 94 20 72
1989 52 Senate 76 21 75 24 R 90 10 99 15 68
1990 53 Senate 81 19 71 29 R 74 25 99 39 43
1991 54 Senate 68 28 72 24 R 77 16 94 25 60
1992 55 Senate 79 21 77 20 R 78 22 97 25 73
1993 56 Senate 71 27 80 18 D 42 57 98 35 71
1994 57 Senate 69 31 59 38 D 61 35 97 35 48
Lifetime conservative rating:   56%


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.