RightDataUSA


Bob Etheridge

[Congressional biography]

Born: August 7, 1941 in Turkey, NC

Education:

  • Campbell University, B.S., 1965

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1965-1967

Career:

  • Farmer
  • Businessman

Elected Office:

  • Harnett County commissioner, 1972-1976
  • NC House, 1978-1988
  • NC Superintendent of Public Onstruction, 1988-1996


Election Results for Bob Etheridge


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1988 46 NC D Superintendent of Public Instr. Primary 1 277,070 64.5%
1988 46 NC D Superintendent of Public Instr. General 1 1,076,216 54.2%
1992 50 NC D Superintendent of Public Instr. Primary 1 364,109 60.6%
1992 50 NC D Superintendent of Public Instr. General 1 1,299,927 55.5%
1996 54 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 113,820 52.5%
1998 56 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 100,550 57.4%
2000 58 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 146,733 58.3%
2002 60 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 100,121 65.4%
2004 62 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 145,079 62.3%
2006 64 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 85,993 66.5%
2008 66 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 1 199,730 66.9%
2010 68 NC D U.S. House District 02 General 2 92,393 48.7%
2012 70 NC D Governor Primary 2 354,923 38.0%


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



Ideology Data for Bob Etheridge


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
1997 55 House 82 18 78 19 D 63 32 98 65 32
1998 56 House 76 19 79 18 D 71 27 98 80 28
1999 57 House 79 20 D 67 33 99 85 24
2000 58 House 83 16 D 62 38 99 60 28
2001 59 House 83 17 R 44 56 99 85 36
2002 60 House 87 13 R 57 43 100 80 24
2003 61 House 90 10 R 33 67 99 90 28
2004 62 House 85 15 R 48 52 99 85 20
2005 63 House 87 12 R 24 74 97 95 17
2006 64 House 84 16 R 53 47 100 80 44
2007 65 House 95 5 R 12 88 99 90 8
2008 66 House 98 2 R 22 77 99 85 0
2009 67 House 95 4 D 96 3 98 95 4
2010 68 House 96 3 D 90 10 99 85 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   21%


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.