RightDataUSA


Neal Smith

[Congressional biography]

Born: March 23, 1920 in Hedrick, IA
Died: November 2, 2021 in Des Moines, IA

Education:

  • Attended University of Missouri, 1945-1946, and Syracuse University, 1946-1948
  • Drake University, LL.B., 1950

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army Air Force, 1942-1945

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • Farmer
  • Assistant Polk County attorney, 1950-1952
  • Chairman of Polk County welfare board, 1953-1954


Election Results for Neal Smith


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1956 36 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 2 6,072 33.1%
1958 38 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 5,059 34.1%
1958 38 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 61,693 52.3%
1960 40 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 15,670 100.0%
1960 40 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 91,808 53.0%
1962 42 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 10,994 100.0%
1962 42 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 73,963 62.8%
1964 44 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 14,107 100.0%
1964 44 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 108,212 69.6%
1966 46 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 11,823 100.0%
1966 46 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 72,875 60.4%
1968 48 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 19,365 100.0%
1968 48 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 99,586 62.1%
1970 50 IA D U.S. House District 05 Primary 1 17,227 99.9%
1970 50 IA D U.S. House District 05 General 1 73,820 64.9%
1972 52 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 33,935 100.0%
1972 52 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 125,431 59.6%
1974 54 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 25,531 100.0%
1974 54 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 96,755 63.9%
1976 56 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 25,362 100.0%
1976 56 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 145,343 69.1%
1978 58 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 20,686 100.0%
1978 58 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 88,526 64.7%
1980 60 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 19,183 100.0%
1980 60 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 117,896 53.9%
1982 62 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 40,940 100.0%
1982 62 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 118,849 66.0%
1984 64 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 15,047 100.0%
1984 64 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 136,922 60.7%
1986 66 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 23,796 88.9%
1986 66 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 107,271 68.3%
1988 68 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 12,101 90.3%
1988 68 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 157,065 71.6%
1990 70 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 45,595 99.5%
1990 70 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 127,812 97.9%
1992 72 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 19,285 98.5%
1992 72 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 158,610 61.6%
1994 74 IA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 24,281 74.9%
1994 74 IA D U.S. House District 04 General 2 98,824 46.4%


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



Ideology Data for Neal Smith


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
1959 39 House 36 64 90 10 R 48 52 100 100
1960 40 House 0 100 84 14 R 53 44 98 100
1961 41 House 9 87 90 2 D 89 6 91 100 0
1962 42 House 0 100 82 18 D 93 7 97 100 0
1963 43 House 0 93 84 5 D 76 4 81 83 0
1964 44 House 25 67 79 16 D 87 8 91 100 27
1965 45 House 14 78 88 7 D 82 7 89 59 20
1966 46 House 19 68 83 6 D 76 7 88 63 20
1967 47 House 11 80 82 6 D 80 9 88 67 8
1968 48 House 25 73 82 12 D 77 15 92 75 14
1969 49 House 31 60 73 16 R 60 36 88 64 50
1970 50 House 27 52 64 25 R 58 23 88 39 20
1971 51 House 32 60 72 18 R 44 51 93 70 15
1972 52 House 33 56 66 20 R 41 43 89 50 0
1973 53 House 26 63 77 15 R 38 58 89 73 25
1974 54 House 25 71 78 16 R 53 40 93 76 14
1975 55 House 29 66 80 16 R 38 61 97 67 8
1976 56 House 27 70 83 12 R 29 69 94 70 12
1977 57 House 29 63 77 16 D 61 28 93 58 11
1978 58 House 33 65 79 18 D 71 27 96 60 8
1979 59 House 38 51 71 18 D 60 26 88 50 24
1980 60 House 28 64 81 15 D 71 26 95 76 5
1981 61 House 40 55 76 20 R 42 55 96 55 25
1982 62 House 30 67 83 17 R 40 56 97 80 19
1983 63 House 29 66 84 13 R 30 68 96 70 18
1984 64 House 42 47 71 17 R 38 55 91 70 22
1985 65 House 35 62 85 11 R 30 66 96 79 11
1986 66 House 44 52 80 13 R 22 70 94 74 14
1987 67 House 47 49 87 8 R 27 69 95 76 9
1988 68 House 37 53 79 12 R 30 63 92 84 16
1989 69 House 22 59 82 8 R 31 56 90 74 11
1990 70 House 41 59 88 10 R 27 72 98 83 8
1991 71 House 41 54 81 12 R 37 54 94 61 11
1992 72 House 48 50 83 11 R 36 60 95 79 17
1993 73 House 59 39 85 11 D 92 7 96 65 17
1994 74 House 50 42 83 12 D 81 14 96 65 15
Lifetime conservative rating:   15%


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.