RightDataUSA


Don Nickles

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 6, 1948 in Ponca City, OK

Education:

  • Oklahoma State University, B.A., 1971

Military Service:

  • OK National Guard, 1970-1976

Career:

  • VP of machine company, 1976-1980

Elected Office:

  • OK Senate, 1979-1980


Election Results for Don Nickles


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1980 31 OK R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 47,879 34.7%
1980 31 OK R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary Runoff 1 81,697 65.6%
1980 31 OK R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 587,252 53.5%
1986 37 OK R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 493,436 55.2%
1992 43 OK R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 757,876 58.5%
1998 49 OK R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 570,682 66.4%


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



Ideology Data for Don Nickles


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
1981 32 Senate 89 10 87 11 R 85 13 98 5 100
1982 33 Senate 95 5 85 15 R 81 19 99 10 100
1983 34 Senate 91 5 83 16 R 66 34 97 10 96
1984 35 Senate 96 2 85 13 R 63 14 98 0 91
1985 36 Senate 87 12 79 20 R 82 18 99 0 86
1986 37 Senate 99 1 82 18 R 86 14 100 0 90
1987 38 Senate 91 9 91 6 R 73 22 97 5 100
1988 39 Senate 100 0 92 6 R 80 20 96 0 92
1989 40 Senate 97 3 96 4 R 86 11 99 0 96
1990 41 Senate 89 11 91 7 R 83 16 98 0 96
1991 42 Senate 93 8 88 9 R 89 9 97 5 95
1992 43 Senate 87 11 90 5 R 77 20 97 0 96
1993 44 Senate 85 12 94 5 D 18 81 99 5 96
1994 45 Senate 88 13 92 6 D 24 73 96 5 100
1995 46 Senate 93 7 97 2 D 22 78 99 0 100
1996 47 Senate 97 3 99 1 D 34 66 100 0 100
1997 48 Senate 96 4 97 3 D 59 41 100 0 96
1998 49 Senate 100 0 98 2 D 22 76 99 0 96
1999 50 Senate 98 2 99 1 D 27 73 99 0 96
2000 51 Senate 97 3 97 3 D 40 60 99 0 100
2001 52 Senate 96 4 R 95 5 99 10 92
2002 53 Senate 98 1 R 94 2 97 0 100
2003 54 Senate 99 1 R 95 2 99 5 100
2004 55 Senate 96 3 R 93 2 99 5 100
Lifetime conservative rating:   96%


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.