Historical House Ideology and Party Unity, 35th – 112th Congress (1857-2012)

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http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2013/historical-house-ideology-and-party-unity

I saw this on PBS newshour this evening and thought it was particularly fascinating to share. This is a graphical tracking of voting in the House since the Civil War era. At no other time in our countries history have we been so divided along political parties.

You really see the great divide occurring with the 88th Congress (1963-1964) - obviously the passage of the Civil Rights act began the split between the two parties. In more recent times you see it start to expand after the Republican "revolution" in the 90s when they took control of the House.

The Republican party has also been more consistent ideologically and cohesive than Democrats over time. I don't know if that is good or bad, but something to think about when you hear politicians talk out the side of their mouth about being bi-partisan. I would suspect the only issues they are bi-partisan on is voting for their raises