RightDataUSA


George Smathers

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 14, 1913 in Atlantic City, NJ
Died: January 20, 2007 in Indian Creek, FL

Education:

  • University of Florida, 1936, Law School, 1938

Military Service:

  • U.S. Marine Corps, 1942-1946

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Assistant district attorney, 1940-1942
  • Assistant to U.S. Attorney General, 1945-1946


Election Results for George Smathers


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1946 32 FL D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 41,527 68.2%
1946 32 FL D U.S. House District 04 General 1 37,002 71.9%
1948 34 FL D U.S. House District 04 General 1 63,665 81.0%
1950 36 FL D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 387,215 54.8%
1950 36 FL D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 238,987 76.2%
1956 42 FL D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 614,663 87.5%
1956 42 FL D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 655,418 100.0%
1962 48 FL D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 587,562 84.2%
1962 48 FL D U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 657,633 70.0%


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



Ideology Data for George Smathers


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
1947 33 House 87 8 D 92 92
1948 34 House 86 8 D 90 77
1949 35 House 79 15 D 83 69
1950 36 House 36 15 D 51 0
1951 37 Senate 55 17 D 69 86
1952 38 Senate 74 22 D 83 50
1953 39 Senate 67 29 R 53 92 54
1954 40 Senate 57 40 R 49 39 89 31
1955 41 Senate 73 8 R 58 35 89 60
1956 42 Senate 49 23 R 35 34 73 31
1957 43 Senate 50 24 R 56 28 81 36
1958 44 Senate 67 13 R 40 39 77 50
1959 45 Senate 65 15 52 28 R 42 43 84 17
1960 46 Senate 59 13 33 29 R 37 34 71 20
1961 47 Senate 82 14 49 43 D 47 46 91 20 71
1962 48 Senate 65 18 52 18 D 53 16 75 42 58
1963 49 Senate 23 26 61 5 D 62 7 66 44 25
1964 50 Senate 55 33 57 28 D 60 20 79 11 38
1965 51 Senate 34 30 50 18 D 54 18 66 50 54
1966 52 Senate 46 14 31 26 D 38 18 53 11 36
1967 53 Senate 50 16 35 18 D 42 9 52 31 67
1968 54 Senate 36 13 21 24 D 22 17 39 11 73
Lifetime conservative rating:   50%


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.