Presidential-Congressional Relations in an Era of Polarized Parties and a 60-Vote Senate Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • To achieve his goals, the president must persuade Congress to support his positions. Ite's a hard sell. The American system of separated institutions sharing powers (Neustadt 1960: 33) makes it difficult for any president to win support from Congress. Presidential success in Congress varies some presidents win more than others but President Obama seems to be having an especially hard time. In 2012, for example, Obama won only 15.5 percent of House roll call votes on which he expressed a position. Thate's pretty low, but not quite a record President Bush barely holds on to this dubious distinction, winning only 15.4 percent of House roll calls in 2008.

author list (cited authors)

  • Bond, J. R., Fleisher, R., & Cohen, J. E.

citation count

  • 3

complete list of authors

  • Bond, Jon R||Fleisher, Richard||Cohen, Jeffrey E

Book Title

  • American Gridlock

publication date

  • January 2015