'Green' Voting and Ideology: LCV Scores and Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. Senate, 1988-1998

Abstract

This study evaluates the roles of ideology, constituency, and political party for roll-call voting in the U.S. Senate on a broad set of environmental issues. The study estimates a model of political support using voting scores from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) for the period 1988-98, including observations on 91 senators for 130 roll-call votes. The study decomposes the scale-adjusted scores into relative weights due to the general electorate; the senator's support constituency; party leadership; and ideology. The main finding are: a senator's ideology is by far the most important consideration for voting profiles on environmental issues; and party affiliation and regional loyalty explain about 74% of measured ideology. Hence, green voting tends to be highly partisan.