RightDataUSA


Bob Michel

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 2, 1923 in Peoria, IL
Died: February 17, 2017 in Arlington, VA

Education:

  • Bradley University, B.S., 1948

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1943-1946
  • Awarded two Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, and four battle stars

Career:

  • Assistant to Rep. Harold Velde, 1949-1956


Election Results for Bob Michel


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1956 33 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 19,875 48.0%
1956 33 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 87,187 58.8%
1958 35 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 36,140 100.0%
1958 35 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 57,929 59.5%
1960 37 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 36,123 100.0%
1960 37 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 94,388 59.3%
1962 39 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 32,612 100.0%
1962 39 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 75,957 61.2%
1964 41 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 44,906 98.4%
1964 41 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 91,173 54.0%
1966 43 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 80,293 58.4%
1968 45 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 106,122 60.9%
1970 47 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 84,864 66.1%
1972 49 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 124,407 64.8%
1974 51 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 71,681 54.8%
1976 53 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 108,028 57.7%
1978 55 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 85,973 65.9%
1980 57 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 125,561 62.1%
1982 59 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 97,406 51.6%
1984 61 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 136,183 61.0%
1986 63 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 94,308 62.6%
1988 65 IL R U.S. House District 18 Primary 1 45,228 85.8%
1988 65 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 114,458 54.7%
1990 67 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 105,693 98.4%
1992 69 IL R U.S. House District 18 General 1 156,533 57.8%


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



Ideology Data for Bob Michel


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
1957 34 House 78 15 R 43 53 94 11
1958 35 House 54 22 R 62 24 81 33
1959 36 House 100 0 85 10 R 63 20 90 11
1960 37 House 100 0 86 10 R 47 51 94 11
1961 38 House 78 9 69 14 D 22 60 84 0 90
1962 39 House 81 0 75 5 D 18 65 75 25 83
1963 40 House 53 27 67 9 D 18 55 72 10 85
1964 41 House 83 17 71 10 D 35 58 78 8 75
1965 42 House 76 12 76 10 D 27 54 82 0 100
1966 43 House 65 5 71 4 D 32 44 74 7 76
1967 44 House 81 7 84 7 D 37 51 84 7 86
1968 45 House 63 18 66 13 D 42 38 75 25 90
1969 46 House 80 11 69 20 R 64 28 87 7 87
1970 47 House 70 7 74 7 R 74 9 80 19 93
1971 48 House 76 6 74 10 R 75 16 86 3 78
1972 49 House 77 7 72 10 R 51 24 80 7 86
1973 50 House 86 5 84 7 R 75 17 84 0 87
1974 51 House 77 15 69 15 R 79 9 86 9* 71
1975 52 House 82 10 82 9 R 88 8 89 16 88
1976 53 House 85 10 87 8 R 78 12 89 5 91
1977 54 House 82 4 75 10 D 44 44 86 16 89
1978 55 House 80 12 77 14 D 42 56 90 15 91
1979 56 House 85 6 76 12 D 30 58 88 5 92
1980 57 House 79 12 84 8 D 37 51 89 12 71
1981 58 House 83 13 82 11 R 80 17 91 11 82
1982 59 House 89 10 81 16 R 83 12 93 5 82
1983 60 House 81 15 71 20 R 87 7 89 5 81
1984 61 House 90 3 80 11 R 75 20 92 5 81
1985 62 House 91 7 78 15 R 85 11 94 5 84
1986 63 House 76 18 73 20 R 74 18 92 5 86
1987 64 House 93 2 85 9 R 77 17 93 0 86
1988 65 House 82 8 76 14 R 64 30 92 11 92
1989 66 House 90 7 75 17 R 88 9 94 10 85
1990 67 House 91 6 78 15 R 75 18 92 13 76
1991 68 House 95 0 78 10 R 81 9 90 0 89
1992 69 House 88 4 82 13 R 86 7 95 11 86
1993 70 House 93 2 89 7 D 43 52 96 0 96
1994 71 House 72 11 76 9 D 46 36 86 6 84
Lifetime conservative rating:   86%


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.