Congress Has Become More Polarized, With GOP Moving Further Rightward, Study Finds

The Senate: Since 1971-1972, Democrats have moved 0.06 points to the left on a spectrum ranging from 1 (most conservative) to -1 (most liberal), while Republicans have moved 0.28 points to the right, representing a shift of 0.14 points to the right for the Senate as a whole and leaving it generally right of center, Pew found.

The House: During that same time, Democrats moved 0.07 points to the left while House Republicans moved 0.25 points to the right, representing a shift of 0.13 points to the right for the House as a whole and leaving it generally right of center, according to Pew’s analysis.

Democrats and Republicans have both become more ideologically cohesive, with only about 24 “moderate” Congress members in the current Congress, down from over 160 in the 1971-1972 Congress, researchers said.

The demographics of Congress have also shifted dramatically over the past 51 years, with about 42% of Republican legislators coming from Southern states (here defined as former Confederate states) compared to under 15% in 1971-1972, Pew found.

Demographics among Southern legislators have shifted dramatically, researchers found—in 1971-1972, none of the 12 African Americans in the House were from the South, while currently 24 of 50 Southern House Democrats and one of 91 Southern House Republicans are African American.

In 1971-1972, the one African American in the Senate was not from the South, while now one of the four Southern Senate Democrats—Raphael Warnock (Ga.)—is African American and one of 18 Southern Senate Republicans—Tim Scott (S.C.)—is African American.