RightDataUSA


Robert Stafford

[Congressional biography]

Born: August 8, 1913 in Rutland, VT
Died: December 23, 2006 in Rutland, VT

Education:

  • Attended University of Michigan Law School
  • Boston University Law School, 1938

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1942-1946, 1951-1953
  • U.S. Navy Reserve

Career:

  • Rutland County prosecutor, 1938-1942
  • VT state's attorney for Rutland County, 1947-1951
  • VT deputy Attorney General, 1953-1955

Elected Office:

  • VT Attorney General, 1955-1957
  • VT Lt. Governor, 1957-1959
  • Appointed to the U.S. Senate on September 16, 1971 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Winston Prouty


Election Results for Robert Stafford


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

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1958 44 VT R Governor Primary 1 43,547 99.9%
1958 44 VT R Governor General 1 62,222 50.3%
1960 46 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 31,229 53.1%
1960 46 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 94,905 57.2%
1962 48 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 29,835 99.9%
1962 48 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 68,822 56.7%
1964 50 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 43,279 99.9%
1964 50 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 92,252 56.4%
1966 52 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 37,240 99.9%
1966 52 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 89,097 65.6%
1968 54 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 55,336 99.6%
1968 54 VT D U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 569 40.4%
1968 54 VT R,D U.S. House At-Large District General 1 156,956 99.9%
1970 56 VT R U.S. House At-Large District Primary 1 33,678 84.6%
1970 56 VT R U.S. House At-Large District General 1 103,806 68.0%
1972 58 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Special Primary 1 35,114 99.8%
1972 58 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Special 1 45,888 64.4%
1976 62 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 24,328 68.7%
1976 62 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 94,481 50.0%
1982 68 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 Primary 1 26,323 46.2%
1982 68 VT R U.S. Senate Class 1 General 1 84,450 50.3%


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



Ideology Data for Robert Stafford


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
1961 47 House 61 26 64 28 D 57 37 94 22 50
1962 48 House 31 69 54 40 D 67 32 97 75 40
1963 49 House 60 27 65 28 D 48 48 91 33 88
1964 50 House 50 50 58 37 D 56 40 94 38 63
1965 51 House 45 55 44 52 D 68 28 97 37 69
1966 52 House 41 35 54 29 D 50 30 81 19 59
1967 53 House 56 43 55 39 D 65 31 94 27 38
1968 54 House 41 53 40 46 D 72 17 83 42 35
1969 55 House 44 53 44 47 R 70 26 93 40 20
1970 56 House 36 52 36 57 R 77 14 91 67 35
1971 57 House 51 32 52 32 R 59 26 82 43 25
1971 57 Senate 58 38 60 38 R 56 28 93 50 33
1972 58 Senate 41 48 40 44 R 43 41 84 56 9
1973 59 Senate 50 46 46 46 R 51 41 93 60 20
1974 60 Senate 38 54 39 50 R 48 43 89 62* 36
1975 61 Senate 30 69 33 63 R 55 39 95 72 16
1976 62 Senate 34 51 27 59 R 60 34 84 63 21
1977 63 Senate 28 32 32 42 D 69 24 75 56 24
1978 64 Senate 29 62 22 70 D 81 11 88 58 25
1979 65 Senate 29 54 28 51 D 63 22 80 59 17
1980 66 Senate 38 57 35 55 D 73 24 90 65 30
1981 67 Senate 63 29 72 21 R 72 17 92 40 47
1982 68 Senate 46 43 53 36 R 64 27 90 72 39
1983 69 Senate 48 41 51 41 R 66 21 93 68 13
1984 70 Senate 43 34 54 26 R 57 25 85 61 29
1985 71 Senate 53 37 62 30 R 69 27 93 50 26
1986 72 Senate 43 45 53 33 R 55 40 85 63 37
1987 73 Senate 31 59 38 51 R 42 46 90 80 8
1988 74 Senate 27 55 32 41 R 45 36 82 84 26
Lifetime conservative rating:   32%


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.