Washington, D.C. — A revived version of the “Trump Score,” a political alignment metric that measures how closely members of the U.S. Congress vote in line with former President Donald Trump’s policies, has been launched this week, highlighting major divisions within both Republican and Democratic ranks.
Originally developed by the now-defunct data site FiveThirtyEight.com, the Trump Score has been expanded and relaunched under a new platform — GOPScorecard.com — with data compiled by the Institute for Legislative Analysis (ILA). The updated system now evaluates not only congressional members but also state lawmakers, in what the Institute describes as the most comprehensive dataset ever assembled on U.S. legislative voting patterns.
Oklahoma Figures Top the Alignment Chart
Among Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, Josh Brecheen (96.43%) and Kevin Hern (86.14%) were found to be the most aligned with President Trump’s policy positions. At the other end of the scale, Frank Lucas (69.40%) and Tom Cole (63.27%) showed lower alignment, opposing Trump’s positions in nearly one-third of their votes.
The findings, drawn from a wider range of legislative activity than before, include not only final votes on bills but also amendments and procedural motions — areas often excluded from traditional analyses of congressional behaviour.
Expanded Dataset and Refined Methodology
According to the Institute, the revamped Trump Score is designed to offer a more accurate and nuanced picture of how closely individual lawmakers follow the “America First” policy agenda associated with Trump’s presidency.
“Now powered by the most comprehensive dataset ever compiled on the U.S. Congress — developed by the Institute for Legislative Analysis — the Trump Score goes far beyond its original scope. Utilizing not only President Trump’s public statements but also the official Republican Party platform under Trump, the new system analyzes a far wider range of votes, including amendments and procedural motions, resulting in significantly improved accuracy,” the release stated.
Ryan McGowan, CEO of the Institute for Legislative Analysis, said the updated framework exposes discrepancies between public rhetoric and actual legislative behaviour.
“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 Ryan McGowan, CEO of the Institute for Legislative Analysis. “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 — a number of lawmakers’ voting records don’t truly align with the America First agenda they project on the campaign trail or in the media.”
National Patterns and Partisan Trends
At a national level, the Institute’s data shows Republicans most frequently broke with Trump on fiscal issues, particularly spending legislation, while maintaining strong alignment on crime and law-and-order measures.
Democrats, by contrast, rarely sided with Trump’s positions. When they did, it was most often on matters of foreign policy or civil liberties, including votes related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Overall, the analysis found that Democrats were more unified in opposing Trump’s policies than Republicans were in supporting them.
Addressing Past Limitations
The new version also attempts to fix what analysts described as a significant flaw in the original Trump Score: cases where both far-left and far-right lawmakers opposed the same bill for completely different reasons. By adding contextual and intent-based analysis, the revised methodology aims to deliver a more reliable measure of ideological alignment.
Expansion to State Legislatures
The project has also moved beyond Capitol Hill. The Trump Score now includes state-level legislators, beginning with two pilot states: Maryland, a Democratic stronghold, and Idaho, dominated by Republicans. According to the Institute, the dual-state rollout provides early insight into how state lawmakers align with the America First platform across contrasting political environments.
The ILA has announced plans to expand the scoring system to cover all 7,400-plus state legislators across the United States.
As the 2024 U.S. election cycle intensifies, the updated Trump Score is likely to serve as both a political barometer and a campaign talking point — offering data-driven insight into how closely America’s elected officials, from Washington to state capitals, truly adhere to the former president’s agenda.
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