Published on May 25, 2024, 12:34 am

In the realm of the U.S. Senate, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders is perceived as relatively conservative within Democratic ranks, while New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, despite being a self-proclaimed socialist, is not the most left-leaning member in the House of Representatives. These insights were among those derived by the Institute for Legislative Analysis after scrutinizing 58 Senate votes and 133 House tallies in 2023.

Lawmakers from each chamber were evaluated on a scale from zero—representing extreme liberals—to 100—the epitome of conservatism. The resultant data verified that Capitol Hill Democrats hail predominantly from radical left backgrounds, whilst their Republican counterparts exhibited greater moderation than registered GOP voters might have anticipated.

Taking Bernie Sanders—a poster child for American socialism—as a reference point with a rating of 7.14%, it turned out that more than half (26 senators) of his fellow Democrats scored even lower. Even legislators perceived as mainstream—like Virginia’s Mark Warner (5.56%), Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey (5.45%), and Maryland’s Ben Cardin (3.57%)—positioned themselves to Sanders’ left.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (New York Democrat), shares this rating (7.14%) with his peer Sanders, alongside Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly—an alleged “centrist” ex-astronaut—indicating they’re only seven points away from turning fully leftist.

Meanwhile on the Republican front, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell boasts a significantly moderate ranking at 66.04%, placing him considerably closer to middle ground when compared to his Democratic counterparts; it was noted that fewer senators held positions left of Schumer while many more veered off to the right of McConnell.

Referring further into these legislative ratings reveals that Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy embodies hard-left ideology at a mere 1.79%, while West Virginia’s Joe Manchin represents moderate Democrats with a comfortable score of 35.19%. The Republican end of the spectrum sees moderate Susan Collins of Maine at 50.00%, while principled conservative Mike Lee from Utah dominated scoring with a full 100%.

In the House of Representatives, Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett and Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry, Chip Roy of Texas alongside Virginia’s Robert Good—Republicans all—won top ideological honors; robustly liberal Crockett scored as low as 1.61%, while her conservative counterparts each achieved perfect ratings.

Surprisingly, approximately 33 House Democrats have more radical left positions than “Squad” leader AOC who ironically often votes in favor of Republican propositions.

On the whole, more consistency was found within the Democratic party when compared to their opposition—the latter exhibiting much broader ideological diversity. In both Senate and House evaluations, Republicans prevailed on cultural fronts like abortion rights, gender policy and racial issues—with an impressive joint score of over 97%—while lagging behind in financial matters. Democrats however were almost invisible showing merely an average just above zero percent.

Ultimately, these objective facts presented through ILA’s data reveal that next time “extreme” branding is deployed against Republicans or any assertions are made about ‘mega-MAGA’ descriptors by President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats, they would do well to refer back to these numbers—an open indictment on who genuinely represents extremism at Capitol Hill.