RightDataUSA


Christopher Dodd

[Congressional biography]

Born: May 27, 1944 in Willimantic, CT

Education:

  • Providence College, B.A., 1966
  • University of Louisville, J.D., 1972

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1969-1975

Career:

  • Peace Corps, 1966-1968
  • Lawyer

Other notes:

  • Son of Thomas Dodd


Election Results for Christopher Dodd


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1974 30 CT D U.S. House District 02 General 1 104,436 59.0%
1976 32 CT D U.S. House District 02 General 1 142,684 65.1%
1978 34 CT D U.S. House District 02 General 1 116,624 69.9%
1980 36 CT D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 763,969 56.3%
1986 42 CT D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 632,695 64.8%
1992 48 CT D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 882,569 58.8%
1998 54 CT D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 628,306 65.1%
2004 60 CT D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 945,347 66.4%


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



Ideology Data for Christopher Dodd


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
1975 31 House 12 85 82 11 R 27 69 93 94 8
1976 32 House 22 65 78 11 R 24 71 88 78 7
1977 33 House 15 70 76 8 D 73 15 82 78 6
1978 34 House 13 82 80 12 D 71 23 90 80 4
1979 35 House 9 74 72 9 D 65 17 80 88 8
1980 36 House 9 47 54 7 D 47 14 53 87 0
1981 37 Senate 3 85 80 8 R 33 59 88 95 7
1982 38 Senate 5 85 82 12 R 36 61 88 100 6
1983 39 Senate 14 64 67 17 R 41 53 81 94 0
1984 40 Senate 6 89 85 8 R 32 61 91 100 10
1985 41 Senate 27 73 83 14 R 34 64 96 85 5
1986 42 Senate 29 70 71 28 R 25 73 99 85 19
1987 43 Senate 28 59 80 11 R 29 56 88 72 0
1988 44 Senate 38 54 86 9 R 49 40 91 89 8
1989 45 Senate 32 66 89 9 R 54 45 99 65 17
1990 46 Senate 30 65 89 8 R 39 58 97 65 9
1991 47 Senate 43 58 83 16 R 49 49 99 75 24
1992 48 Senate 34 66 83 17 R 32 68 99 75 8
1993 49 Senate 29 68 91 8 D 97 2 99 75 12
1994 50 Senate 22 69 84 9 D 90 5 92 89 0
1995 51 Senate 28 68 86 13 D 92 8 99 95 4
1996 52 Senate 37 61 88 11 D 80 19 98 85 10
1997 53 Senate 40 60 87 13 D 92 6 98 90 4
1998 54 Senate 38 63 90 9 D 93 7 99 95 4
1999 55 Senate 90 10 87 9 D 86 14 95 100 0
2000 56 Senate 95 5 88 5 D 98 2 95 95 13
2001 57 Senate 96 2 R 63 35 97 95 16
2002 58 Senate 91 5 R 63 28 94 89 5
2003 59 Senate 93 5 R 46 51 98 95 15
2004 60 Senate 94 4 R 66 34 99 100 4
2005 61 Senate 91 6 R 33 60 95 100 8
2006 62 Senate 93 5 R 46 47 96 100 8
2007 63 Senate 65 2 R 23 36 62 100 0
2008 64 Senate 95 4 R 35 65 98 100 4
2009 65 Senate 97 1 D 92 3 97 95 0
2010 66 Senate 95 4 D 98 2 97 85 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   7%


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.