Congressional Ideology Spectrum Ratings

[Gass3268]

Through school I gained access to the American Federation of Labor, Americans for Democratic Action, Chamber of Commerce and American Conservative Union scores for all the members of Congress. So I've been spending the past few weeks coming up with career averages for each member of Congress for each group and then averaging the the 4 scores together to create a total score to put that member on an ideology spectrum. I then gave a bonus addition or subtraction if they were a member of an ideology caucus (Progressive, New Democrat, Blue Dogs, Main Street, Conservative Action and Tea Party).

First I would average out the scores for all of the members of Congress for each group. Then I would assign the liberal group's (AFL and ADA) scores a negative value while the conservative group's scores remained positive. Then the four scores were averaged. Members that are apart of an ideology caucus would have another score added into the total average. Each group would be assigned a number:

Progressive Caucus: -100
New Democrat: -50
Blue Dog: -25
Main Street Republican: -50
Republican Study Committee: -100
Tea Party: -125

If a member was a part of multiple caucus the bonus numbers would be averaged together. In order to balance out the average a 0 would be added and the total would be divided by 6. Those who are not members of an ideology caucus would still see their total divided by 4   

A perfect liberal score would be -50 while a perfect conservative score would be 54.166. 

Any questions on my methodology, please ask!

[Gass3268]

Alabama

Seat #	Representative	Party	AFL Score	ADA Score	CCUS Score	ACU Score	Dem Caucus	Rep Caucus	Composite Score	Year Elected	Caucuses
6	Spencer Bachus	Republican	-12.37	-5.79	91.26	91.47	0	100	44.0967	1992	Republican Study Committee
5	Mo Brooks	Republican	-3	-10	88	88	0	100	43.8333	20102010	Republican Study Committee
2	Martha Roby	Republican	0	-5	94	84	-	-	43.25	2010	None
4	Robert Aderholt	Republican	-16	-8.33	80.07	88.93	0	112.5	42.8617	1996	Republican Study Committee & Tea Party
1	Jo Bonner	Republican	-8.222	-5	93.33	88.44	-	-	42.1388	2002	None
3	Mike Rodgers	Republican	-20.778	-15	90.67	80.67	0	100	39.2593	2002	Republican Study Committee
7	Terri Sewell	Democrat	-90	-75	56	0	-50	0	-26.5	2010	New Democrat

[Gass3268]

Alaska

Seat #	Representative	Party	AFL Score	ADA Score	CCUS Score	ACU Score	Dem Caucus	Rep Caucus	Composite Score	Year Elected	Caucuses
At Large	Don Young	Republican	-42.22	-15.49	76.84	81.93	-	-	25.2668	1973	None

[Gass3268]

Arizona

Seat #	Representative	Party	AFL Score	ADA Score	CCUS Score	ACU Score	Dem Caucus	Rep Caucus	Composite Score	Year Elected	Caucuses
2	Trent Franks	Republican	-1.78	3.89	82.67	98.67	0	112.5	48.0277	2002	Republican Study Committee & Tea Party
3	Ben Quayle	Republican	0	-5	93	100	0	100	48.0000	2010	Republican Study Committee
5	David Schweikert	Republican	0	-5	94	96	0	100	47.5000	2010	Republican Study Committee
1	Paul Gosar	Republican	0	-5	94	84	0	100	45.5000	2010	Republican Study Committee
6	Jeff Flake	Republican	-6	-8.18	71.46	97.09	0	100	42.3938	2000	Republican Study Committee
4	Ed Pastor	Democrat	-95.24	-93	34.05	5.91	-100	0	-41.3808	1991	Progressive Caucus
7	Raúl Grijalva	Democrat	-97.11	-98.33	26.67	3.56	-100	0	-44.2035	2002	Progressive Caucus
8	Ron Barber	Democrat	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2012	None

[freepcrusher]

Sewell is only on her first term. Where did you find the 2011 ADA ratings?

[Gass3268]

Through school I have access to Congressional Quarterly and they have all the scores up to 2011.