RightDataUSA


James Polk

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 6, 1896 in Penn Township, OH
Died: April 28, 1959 in Washington, DC

Education:

  • Ohio State University, 1919
  • Wittenburg College, 1923

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1918 (discharged after 2 weeks due to a physical disability)

Career:

  • Farmer
  • High school principal/superintendent, 1919-1928
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1942-1946



Election Results for James Polk


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1936 39 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 11,823 57.6%
1936 39 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 54,904 54.6%
1938 41 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 21,880 73.7%
1938 41 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 43,646 50.5%
1948 51 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 7,788 51.8%
1948 51 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 46,944 53.1%
1950 53 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 11,210 100.0%
1950 53 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 40,335 50.8%
1952 55 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 16,661 100.0%
1952 55 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 67,220 50.1%
1954 57 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 12,799 100.0%
1954 57 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 54,044 52.2%
1956 59 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 19,032 100.0%
1956 59 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 72,229 54.5%
1958 61 OH D U.S. House District 06 Primary 1 20,579 100.0%
1958 61 OH D U.S. House District 06 General 1 76,566 62.0%


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




Ideology Data for James Polk


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
1937 40 House 37 54 D 94
1938 41 House 38 52 D 90
1939 42 House 55 28 D 87
1940 43 House 36 55 D 91
1949 52 House 82 18 D 100 100
1950 53 House 74 22 D 97 87
1951 54 House 84 13 D 95 83
1952 55 House 86 11 D 97 92
1953 56 House 79 21 R 52 93 82
1954 57 House 100 0 R 61 37 96 89
1955 58 House 71 16 R 34 41 75 86
1956 59 House 78 19 R 59 38 95 71
1957 60 House 71 20 R 48 45 94 33
1958 61 House 76 24 R 60 40 98 75


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.