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FOREIGN POLICY AND IDEOLOGICAL VOTING IN THE U.S. SENATE
Author(s) -
Sulfaro Valerie A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1996.tb00431.x
Subject(s) - ideology , voting , dimension (graph theory) , political science , foreign policy , robustness (evolution) , political economy , positive economics , economics , law , politics , mathematics , biochemistry , chemistry , pure mathematics , gene
This article examines the dimensional structure of roll‐call voting in the Senate. Using an unfolding analysis based on interest group ratings, a single ideological dimension is found. The robustness of this dimension is explored by examining how well it explains a series of roll‐call votes on foreign policy issues. As anticipated, the ideological dimension predicts these votes better than do other baseline models. This provides strong support for unidimensional theories of congressional voting behavior. Additionally, it suggests that while foreign policy may be substantively different from domestic policy, it is evaluated on the basis of a common ideological dimension.