New ‘Trump Score’ Rankings Expose GOP Lawmakers Who Break With President’s Policies

A new ranking system reveals which Republican members of Congress most often break with President Donald Trump on policy, according to a press release obtained by the Daily Caller.

The new ranking by The Institute of Legislative Analysis (ILA) expanded and updated the “Trump Score” first fashioned by the now bygone FiveThirtyEight.com, looking at both Republican and Democratic lawmakers’ alignment with Trump’s policies, the ILA press release said.

The institute’s dataset was created to calculate the score, which now goes far past its original scope, according to the organization. It factors in not only Trump’s public statements and the official Republican Party platform under his administration, but also a much broader scope of congressional votes — amendments and procedural motions among them.

GOP lawmakers leading in alignment with President Trump’s agenda, according to the alignment Trump Score. [Screenshot/The Institute for Legislative Analysis]

The Republican members’ voting records that are least aligned with Trump’s policy positions include Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins and Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Roger Wicker of Mississippi as well as Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, according to the website.

Fitzpatrick leads GOP lawmakers least aligned with the president on the ranking system, recording a 51.37% alignment score — over 3 points lower than Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Wicker’s 55.07%. Murkowski’s alignment score sits at 55.71%, followed by Collins at 56.34%, while former Senate Majority Leader McConnell aligns with Trump 59.15% of the time.

The data indicates that Republicans were most likely to diverge from Trump on spending matters, yet consistently aligned with him on legislation related to crime, according to the press release obtained by the Caller.

Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Roger Marshall of Kansas all aligned with the president’s policies over 97% of the time, according to the website. Meanwhile, Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma rank fourth and fifth — discounting Vice President JD Vance, who is at the top of the list — with alignment scores above 96%.

The ranking system also tracks Democratic alignment with Trump’s policies. Among Democrats, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington aligns 49.86% of the time, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine 44.01% and Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas at 41.62%, according to the website.

On the other end of the ranking system, the top four Democrats who align with Trump less than 4% of the time include Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii.

The data shows that while Democrats seldom supported Trump — typically only on foreign policy or civil liberties issues like FISA votes — they were generally more often united in opposing him than Republicans were in backing him, according to the press release obtained by the Caller.

The revised methodology addresses a key limitation of the original “Trump Score” when lawmakers further to the left or right fought the same bill for opposing reasons by considering context and intent, the release continued.

Ryan McGowan, CEO of the ILA, emphasized the institute’s goal of providing a more accurate picture.

“The media’s focus on high-profile bills and headline votes often creates the impression that members of both parties are unified in either their support for or opposition to President Trump and his policies,” said McGowan. “We’re excited to supply the data behind this new generation of the Trump Score. By now incorporating the often-overlooked procedural and amendment votes, it’s clear that — despite the rhetoric — with the America First agenda they project on the campaign trail or in the media.”

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