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

Pennsylvania State Univ. Working Paper No. 8-00-01

42 Pages Posted: 26 Feb 2002

See all articles by Jon P. Nelson

Jon P. Nelson

Pennsylvania State University - College of the Liberal Arts - Department of Economic

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2001

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.

Keywords: voting models, ideology, environmental economics

JEL Classification: D72, Q28

Suggested Citation

Nelson, Jon P., 'Green' Voting and Ideology: Lcv Scores and Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. Senate, 1988-1998 (August 2001). Pennsylvania State Univ. Working Paper No. 8-00-01, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=301392 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.301392

Jon P. Nelson (Contact Author)

Pennsylvania State University - College of the Liberal Arts - Department of Economic ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://econ.la.psu.edu/people/jpn

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