http://www.democrats.com/view2.cfm?id=3175

10-Jun-01

Recently, Trent Lott claimed that Jim Jeffords' switch overturned the decision of voters to give control of the Senate to the Republicans. "It was a 'coup of one' that subverted the will of the American voters who elected a Republican majority." However, counting all of the votes cast for members of the current U.S. Senate by party affiliation, Democrats received one million votes MORE than Republicans did (including Vermonters' votes for Jeffords as votes for a Republican). Although the Senate is of course not meant to reflect strictly the numbers of votes cast across the country, these figures show that there is no reason to suppose that more U.S. voters wanted the Republicans to control the Senate more than they wanted Democrats to control it. In fact, the results show the opposite.

Lott Is Wrong Again! Voters Chose a Democratic Senate
Scott A. Anderson

Recently, Trent Lott claimed that Jim Jeffords' switch overturned the decision of voters to give control of the Senate to the Republicans. "It was a 'coup of one' that subverted the will of the American voters who elected a Republican majority." However, counting all of the votes cast for members of the current U.S. Senate, Democrats received one million votes MORE than Republicans (including Vermonters' votes for Jeffords as votes for a Republican).

Specifically, in the elections that give us the current membership of the Senate held in 1996, 1998, and 2000, Democrats received 87,046,941 votes, while Republicans received 85,966,292. If one weights more heavily recent elections, one finds that in the 1998 and 2000 elections, Democrats received 1,548,645 and 355,264 more votes than did Republicans, respectively.

Although the Senate is of course not meant to reflect strictly the numbers of votes cast across the country, these figures show that there is no reason to suppose that more U.S. voters wanted the Republicans to control the Senate more than they wanted Democrats to control it. In fact,, the results show the opposite.

Votes for Senators by Party for the current (June, 2001) Senate.

State Year Democrats Republicans Difference
(Dems - Reps)
Alabama 1996 681,651 786,436 -104,785
Alaska 1996 23,977 177,893 -153,916
Arkansas 1996 400,241 445,942 -45,701
Colorado 1996 677,600 750,325 -72,725
Delaware 1996 165,465 105,088 60,377
Georgia 1996 1,103,993 1,073,969 30,024
Idaho 1996 198,422 283,532 -85,110
Illinois 1996 2,384,028 1,728,824 655,204
Iowa 1996 634,166 571,807 62,359
Kansas 1996 823,724 1,226,698 -402,974
Kentucky 1996 560,012 724,794 -164,782
Louisiana 1996 852,945 847,157 5,788
Maine 1996 266,226 298,422 -32,196
Massachusetts 1996 1,334,345 1,142,837 191,508
Michigan 1996 2,195,738 1,500,106 695,632
Minnesota 1996 1,098,493 901,282 197,211
Mississippi 1996 240,647 624,154 -383,507
Montana 1996 201,935 182,111 19,824
Nebraska 1996 281,904 379,933 -98,029
New Hampshire 1996 227,397 242,304 -14,907
New Jersey 1996 1,519,328 1,227,817 291,511
New Mexico 1996 164,356 357,171 -192,815
North Carolina 1996 1,173,875 1,345,833 -171,958
Oklahoma 1996 474,162 670,610 -196,448
Oregon 1996 624,370 677,336 -52,966
Rhode Island 1996 230,676 127,368 103,308
South Carolina 1996 510,951 619,859 -108,908
South Dakota 1996 166,533 157,954 8,579
Tennessee 1996 654,937 1,091,554 -436,617
Texas 1996 2,428,776 3,027,680 -598,904
Virginia 1996 1,115,982 1,235,744 -119,762
West Virginia 1996 456,526 139,088 317,438
Wyoming 1996 89,103 114,116 -25,013
Alabama 1998 474,568 817,973 -343,405
Alaska 1998 43,743 165,227 -121,484
Arizona 1998 275,224 696,577 -421,353
Arkansas 1998 385,878 295,870 90,008
California 1998 4,411,705 3,576,351 835,354
Colorado 1998 464,754 829,370 -364,616
Connecticut 1998 628,306 312,177 316,129
Florida 1998 2,436,407 1,463,755 972,652
Hawaii 1998 315,252 70,964 244,288
Idaho 1998 107,375 262,966 -155,591
Illinois 1998 1,610,496 1,709,041 -98,545
Indiana 1998 1,012,244 552,732 459,512
Iowa 1998 289,049 648,480 -359,431
Kansas 1998 229,718 474,639 -244,921
Kentucky 1998 563,051 569,817 -6,766
Louisiana 1998 630,395 314,580 315,815
Maryland 1998 1,062,810 444,637 618,173
Missouri 1998 690,208 830,625 -140,417
Nevada 1998 208,650 208,222 428
New Hampshire 1998 88,883 213,477 -124,594
New York 1998 2,386,314 1,680,203 706,111
North Carolina 1998 1,029,237 945,943 83,294
North Dakota 1998 134,747 75,013 59,734
Ohio 1998 1,482,054 1,922,087 -440,033
Oklahoma 1998 268,898 570,682 -301,784
Oregon 1998 682,425 377,739 304,686
Pennsylvania 1998 1,028,839 1,814,180 -785,341
South Carolina 1998 562,791 488,132 74,659
South Dakota 1998 162,884 95,431 67,453
Utah 1998 163,172 316,652 -153,480
Vermont 1998 154,567 48,051 106,516
Washington 1998 1,103,184 785,377 317,807
Wisconsin 1998 890,059 852,272 37,787
Arizona 2000 uncontested 962,065 -962,065
California 2000 5,313,577 3,449,962 1,863,615
Connecticut 2000 824,346 445,312 379,034
Delaware 2000 181,387 142,683 38,704
Florida 2000 2,981,667 2,698,770 282,897
Georgia 2000 1,390,443 933,697 456,746
Hawaii 2000 251,130 84,657 166,473
Indiana 2000 684,242 1,419,629 -735,387
Maine 2000 197,341 430,665 -233,324
Maryland 2000 1,171,151 678,376 492,775
Massachusetts 2000 1,880,261 333,535 1,546,726
Michigan 2000 2,034,342 1,991,507 42,835
Minnesota 2000 1,180,335 1,048,244 132,091
Mississippi 2000 293,332 624,602 -331,270
Missouri 2000 1,191,424 1,142,552 48,872
Montana 2000 194,003 207,500 -13,497
Nebraska 2000 330,366 318,368 11,998
Nevada 2000 238,243 330,663 -92,420
New Jersey 2000 1,457,081 1,360,758 96,323
New Mexico 2000 365,462 223,278 142,184
New York 2000 3,422,027 2,681,221 740,806
North Dakota 2000 177,148 111,872 65,276
Ohio 2000 1,539,001 2,590,952 -1,051,951
Pennsylvania 2000 2,134,734 2,473,118 -338,384
Rhode Island 2000 164,634 225,887 -61,253
Tennessee 2000 619,599 1,253,412 -633,813
Texas 2000 2,025,024 4,078,954 -2,053,930
Utah 2000 241,327 501,919 -260,592
Vermont 2000 72,909 188,070 -115,161
Virginia 2000 1,283,557 1,409,467 -125,910
Washington 2000 1,197,429 1,194,886 2,543
West Virginia 2000 462,340 118,223 344,117
Wisconsin 2000 1,559,669 939,186 620,483
Wyoming 2000 47,039 157,316 -110,277
         
Sub 1996 23,962,484 24,785,744 -823,260
Sub 1998 25,977,887 24,429,242 1,548,645
Sub 2000 37,106,570 36,751,306 355,264
       
Totals for 1996-2000 87,046,941 85,966,292 1,080,649

These figures include require the following explanations:

1. The above figures for the 1998 NY Senate race (Schumer/D'Amato) include only those votes cast for the candidates as a democrat or republican respectively. Schumer and D'Amato both received votes under other party banners, which are not included in these tallies.

2. Paul Coverdell (republican) won the GA Senate race in 1998, subsequently died, and was replaced by Zell Miller. The figures for the 1998 race have been omitted, and the figures for the more recent special election between Miller and Mattingly are used in their place.

3. The figures for the 1996 and 1998 elections are from FEC website data, and presumably reflect full and accurate totals. The figures from the 2000 election are from the NYT website (http://www.nytimes.com/specials/election2000/election2000results.html), and reflect nearly complete results, though some races were only 99% tallied in the figures posted to the site.

Scott A. Anderson is a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Chicago.

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