The Senate
100 members, two per state, serving six-year terms. A third of the chamber faces voters at a time, so the Senate moves more slowly — and because a determined minority can require 60 votes, what it chooses to spend its floor time on has changed more than its membership has.
45 Democrats, 57 Republicans, 2 other, counting everyone who served at any point in the 119th Congress. 51 is a majority.
The Senate holds far fewer than the House, and most are not on bills.
825 votes where most Democrats were on one side and most Republicans on the other.
Distance between the average Democrat and the average Republican, where 2.0 is the maximum.
What the Senate floor is actually used for
Over thirty years the Senate has largely stopped voting on bills and started spending its time confirming appointments and breaking filibusters.
In the 119th Congress. In the 101st there were 83 — roughly 4.4 times as many.
Judges, cabinet officers, ambassadors and sub-cabinet posts. In the 101st Congress there were 24.
A cloture motion ends a filibuster; it needs 60 votes. The record is 298, in the 116th Congress.
Of 890 recorded votes, only 19 were on finally passing a bill or conference report. It was 13.0% in 1989.
What is cloture, and why does it matter?
In the Senate, debate does not automatically end. To force a vote, 60 senators must agree to close debate — that motion is called cloture. The number of cloture motions is a reasonable proxy for how often the minority forces a supermajority requirement. It ran in the low dozens per Congress into the early 1990s; it now runs in the hundreds.
A caveat worth stating: cloture motions are also filed pre-emptively by majority leaders to save floor time, so not every one represents a genuine blockade.
Who holds the seats
The number of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, every Congress since 1857. Bar height is total membership, so you can see the chamber grow as states joined.
How far apart they sit
Every member of the Senate placed by their own voting record. Drag the slider to move through history. Where the blue and red ranges overlap, members of both parties were voting in similar ways — the space where deals got made.
45 Democrats in this Congress.
57 Republicans in this Congress.
Distance between the two averages. 2.0 is the maximum possible.
Members whose voting record put them inside the range of the other party.
Members in the middle
How many members sat in territory the other party also occupied — the people who could be persuaded either way. In the Senate the number is now 0.
Votes that split the parties
The share of recorded votes where most Democrats were on one side and most Republicans on the other. This is about behaviour on the floor, not where members sit.
Why show several measures instead of one 'polarization' number?
Because they disagree, and the disagreement is the interesting part. Take the 91st House (1969–1971): the two party averages were further apart than they had been in 1947 — but 203 members still sat in shared territory, and only 29% of votes split the parties. A single number would have called that a polarized Congress. It was the opposite: an era when cross-party coalitions decided almost everything.
Closest recent votes
The narrowest party-line roll calls in the current Senate.
| Vote | Result | Yea | Nay | D yes | R yes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To prohibit an individual from acting as Director of National Intelligence if such individual is simultaneously serving as the head of any other Feder2026-06-04 · On the Motion | Motion Rejected | 49 | 49 | 44 | 3 |
| A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by Bureau of Consumer2026-05-13 · On the Motion to Proceed | Motion to Proceed Rejected | 50 | 50 | 45 | 3 |
| To establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to requiring the obligation of amounts appropriated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to2026-04-23 · On the Amendment | Amendment Rejected | 49 | 49 | 44 | 3 |
| To reduce the price of prescription drugs in the United States by more than 50 percent by adopting Most Favored Nation drug pricing so that the Americ2026-04-23 · On the Motion | Motion Rejected | 49 | 49 | 44 | 3 |
| To create a point of order against reconciliation legislation fails to address the practice of insurance companies stepping between patients and their2026-04-22 · On the Motion | Motion Rejected | 49 | 49 | 44 | 3 |
| A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by C2026-01-14 · On the Point of Order | Point of Order Well Taken | 50 | 50 | 0 | 50 |
| A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Office of the 2025-12-18 · On the Joint Resolution | Joint Resolution Defeated | 50 | 50 | 45 | 3 |
| A bill to rescind certain budget authority proposed to be rescinded in special messages transmitted to the Congress by the President on June 3, 2025, 2025-07-15 · On the Motion to Proceed | Motion to Proceed Agreed to | 50 | 50 | 0 | 50 |
| A bill to rescind certain budget authority proposed to be rescinded in special messages transmitted to the Congress by the President on June 3, 2025, 2025-07-15 · On the Motion to Discharge | Motion to Discharge Agreed to | 50 | 50 | 0 | 50 |
| A bill to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14.2025-07-01 · On Passage of the Bill | Bill Passed | 50 | 50 | 0 | 50 |