RightDataUSA


Arlen Specter

[Congressional biography]

Born: February 12, 1930 in Wichita, KS
Died: October 14, 2012 in Philadelphia, PA

Military Service:

  • U.S. Air Force, 1951-1953

Other notes:

  • Changed party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 1965
  • Changed party affiliation from Republican to Democrat on April 30, 2009


Election Results for Arlen Specter


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1976 46 PA R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 2 332,513 35.0%
1978 48 PA R Governor Primary 2 206,802 20.7%
1980 50 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 419,372 36.4%
1980 50 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 2,230,404 50.5%
1986 56 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 434,623 76.2%
1986 56 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 1,906,537 56.4%
1992 62 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 683,118 65.1%
1992 62 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 2,358,125 49.1%
1998 68 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 376,322 67.2%
1998 68 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 1,814,180 61.3%
2004 74 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 1 530,839 50.8%
2004 74 PA R U.S. Senate Class 3 General 1 2,925,080 52.6%
2010 80 PA D U.S. Senate Class 3 Primary 2 484,292 46.2%


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



Ideology Data for Arlen Specter


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 51 Senate 51 47 64 34 R 77 22 98 50 40
1982 52 Senate 40 59 50 49 R 55 44 99 74 28
1983 53 Senate 45 55 46 54 R 59 41 99 80 16
1984 54 Senate 55 45 67 32 R 65 35 99 58 36
1985 55 Senate 58 37 51 43 R 61 34 94 55 30
1986 56 Senate 29 64 27 68 R 31 65 95 79 32
1987 57 Senate 41 59 46 53 R 40 60 99 80 15
1988 58 Senate 59 35 48 49 R 63 35 97 63 33
1989 59 Senate 71 29 55 45 R 66 34 100 40 52
1990 60 Senate 59 41 53 46 R 58 42 99 39 48
1991 61 Senate 75 25 67 33 R 68 32 99 35 71
1992 62 Senate 37 58 41 57 R 45 55 96 65 31
1993 63 Senate 61 27 54 31 D 42 47 86 47 57
1994 64 Senate 59 38 55 43 D 55 44 97 55 46
1995 65 Senate 67 30 65 34 D 49 51 98 55 36
1996 66 Senate 66 34 63 36 D 59 41 99 50 50
1997 67 Senate 52 48 50 49 D 71 29 99 70 33
1998 68 Senate 25 38 41 43 D 49 32 86 53 33
1999 69 Senate 64 36 63 37 D 53 47 99 45 48
2000 70 Senate 67 33 66 32 D 59 41 96 50 63
2001 71 Senate 60 40 R 86 14 99 40 56
2002 72 Senate 59 39 R 87 6 97 35 50
2003 73 Senate 84 15 R 85 10 98 25 65
2004 74 Senate 66 28 R 95 2 92 45 75
2005 75 Senate 67 31 R 76 16 97 50 63
2006 76 Senate 60 38 R 71 23 97 32 43
2007 77 Senate 49 50 R 63 35 99 60 40
2008 78 Senate 61 37 R 57 41 98 47 42
2009 79 Senate 73 23 D 88 10 96 79 20
2010 80 Senate 93 3 D 94 3 95 95 0
Lifetime conservative rating:   41%


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.