CPAC Ratings: Dems More Liberal Than GOP Is Conservative

A CPAC study of 150,000 votes by state lawmakers has shown Republicans are less conservative on policy than Democrats are reliable voters for liberal policy.

The study also showed Hawaii is the most liberal state in America, while West Virginia rates as the most conservative from recent lawmaker votes.

"Republicans run on conservative promises, but after they win more of them abandon the tough votes on key conservative policies when compared to Democrats whose first rule is to stick together," CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp wrote in a statement, highlighting the latest ratings. "Our analysis shows how moderate Republicans broke apart on key issues like parental choice in education, securing strong voter ID, or putting a stop to COVID mandates."

The study reviewed all 7,400 state lawmakers from each of the 50 states, including more than 150,000 individual votes across 2,000 different bills in the state legislatures.

Democrats in state legislatures voted on an average of 87.4% with the liberal policy position, while Republicans were less committed to conservatism, having voted for the conservative policy just 76.7% of the time, according to the results.

"This means that, on average, Democrat legislators supported liberal legislation 10.69% more of the time than Republican legislators supported conservative legislation, indicating a relative lack of commitment on the latter's part to the ideology of much of their base," CPAC wrote in its analysis provided to Newsmax.

Also, noted in the CPAC analysis, was a "considerable mismatch between the conservatism of many states and their elected officials."

States largely supporting former President Donald Trump, and holding large Republicans majorities over Democrats in the state legislatures, rated by CPAC as among the least conservative states by voting disproportionately for policy positions considered more liberal, according to the analysis.

The top 10 most conservative state legislatures start with a state that currently has a potentially vulnerable 2024 Senate seat slated to be on the ballot:

1. West Virginia (votes 72% for the conservative position)
2. Oklahoma (70%)
3. Tennessee (70%)
4. Arkansas** (69%)
5. Ohio (68%)
6. Kentucky (68%)
7. Alabama (67%)
8. North Dakota* (65%)
9. Louisiana (64%)
10. South Dakota (64%)

Note: * denotes the state did not hold a legislative session in 2022, so its 2021 rating was used in its place, while ** denotes the state only held a fiscal session in 2022, so its 2021 rating was used.

The 10 least conservative-voting state legislatures, according to CPAC.

1. Hawaii (7%)
2. Massachusetts (14%)
3. Rhode Island (14%)
4. Connecticut (21%)
5. California (22%)
6. Maryland (22%)
7. Oregon (23%)
8. New Jersey (24%)
9. Vermont (24%)
10. New York (24%)

In the thick middle section of the analysis, blue-wall battleground states voted more often for the conservative policies, including Wisconsin (59%), Michigan (56%), and Pennsylvania (53%).

Battleground states that voted more often to the liberal policy — albeit very slightly — include: Arizona (49%), Virginia (48%), and Minnesota (44%).

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