Party Polarization and the Changing Effects of Supermajority Procedures in the Senate: Presidential Success of Bush and Obama

30 Pages Posted: 15 Jul 2012 Last revised: 30 Aug 2012

See all articles by Jon R. Bond

Jon R. Bond

Texas A&M University

Richard Fleisher

Fordham University

Jeffrey Cohen

Fordham University

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

Research on presidential-congressional relations consistently finds that majority party presidents are more successful in the legislative arena than are minority presidents. Although the advantages of majority party status are similar in both chambers, the benefits are somewhat muted in the Senate. Increasing party polarization since the 1980s has profoundly affected presidential-congressional relations. A recent study (Cohen, Bond, and Fleisher 2013) found that increasing partisanship in the House enhances the benefits of majority control — majority party presidents win more and minority presidents win less. The relationships in the Senate, however, changed considerably in recent decades. Majority party presidents still had small advantage, but the explanatory power of the model declined. The authors speculated, but offered no evidence, that supermajoritarian procedures in the Senate were responsible for the weaker relationships. This paper offers some preliminary evidence that in the context of high partisanship, an increasing number of cloture votes during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations contributed to a decline in success rates of both majority and minority presidents.

Keywords: presidential-congressional relations, party polarization, supermajority

Suggested Citation

Bond, Jon R. and Fleisher, Richard and Cohen, Jeffrey, Party Polarization and the Changing Effects of Supermajority Procedures in the Senate: Presidential Success of Bush and Obama (2012). APSA 2012 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2107305

Jon R. Bond (Contact Author)

Texas A&M University ( email )

Department of Political Science
TAMU 4348
College Station, TX 77843-4348
United States

Richard Fleisher

Fordham University ( email )

441 East Fordham Rd.
Bronx, NY 10458
United States

Jeffrey Cohen

Fordham University ( email )

441 E. Fordham Road
Bronx, NY 10458
United States
718-817-3956 (Phone)
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