Visual Guide: The Balance Of Power Between Congress and The Presidency (1945-2011)

Which party controls Congress? Which, the White House? The answer reveals the “balance of power” in the two branches of government that have elected officials (Congress and the White House).

Americans seem to prefer that the checks-and-balances envisioned by the founders be facilitated by having different parties control Congress and the White House.

Contrary to popular belief, most of the time (in modern political history) Congress and the President are at odds; that is, most of the time the same political party does not control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Only 13 times (26 years) since 1945 have both branches of Congress and the Presidency been controlled by the same party; the Democrats have held this advantage more often than Republicans (11 to 2).

At the same time, Congress has usually been controlled by the same party. The “odd man out” has literally been the President. Since 1945, the House and Senate have been controlled by different parties only six times (12 years) — but two of those have been since the 2000 elections, which makes this “seem” more normal than it is, historically. And there have been only two complete turn-overs of Congress since 1949: one in 1993 and the other in 2007.

Year	Congress	President	Senate (100)	House (435)
2011	112th	D	D: 56-42-2	R: 241-193
2009	111th	D	D – 57***	D – 256
2007	110th	R	D – 49**	D – 233
2005	109th	R	R – 55	R – 232
2003	108th	R	R – 51	R – 229
2001	107th	R	D*	R – 221
1999	106th	D	R – 55	R – 223
1997	105th	D	R – 55	R – 228
1995	104th	D	R – 52	R – 230
1993	103rd	D	D – 57	D – 258
1991	102nd	R	D – 56	D – 267
1989	101st	R	D – 55	D – 260
1987	100th	R	D – 55	D – 258
1985	99th	R	R – 53	D – 253
1983	98th	R	R – 54	D – 269
1981	97th	R	R – 53	D – 242
1979	96th	D	D – 58	D – 277
1977	95th	D	D – 61	D – 292
1975	94th	R	D – 60	D -291
1973	93rd	R	D – 56	D – 242
1971	92nd	R	D – 54	D – 255
1969	91st	R	D – 57	D – 243
1967	90th	D	D – 64	D – 247
1965	89th	D	D – 68	D – 295
1963	88th	D	D – 66	D – 259
1961	87th	D	D – 64	D – 263
1959	86th	R	D – 65	D -283
1957	85th	R	D – 49	D – 232
1955	84th	R	D – 48	D – 232
1953	83rd	R	R – 48	D – 221
1951	82nd	D	D – 49	D – 235
1949	81st	D	D – 54	D – 263
1947	80th	D	R – 51	R – 246
1945	79th	D	D – 57	D – 242
Yellow years mark Presidential inauguration.

Sources:
Senate, House, Janda

* There were 50 Ds and 50 Rs until May 24, 2001, when Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT) switched to Independent status, effective June 6, 2001; he announced that he would caucus with the Democrats, giving the Democrats a one-seat advantage.

** Two Independents (Lieberman-CT and Sanders-VT). Lieberman was reelected in 2006 as an independent candidate and became an Independent Democrat;  Sanders was elected in 2006 as an Independent.

*** Two Independents (Lieberman-CT and Sanders-VT);  Arlen Specter (PA) was reelected in 2004 as a  Republican and became a Democrat on April 30, 2009.

RELATED: Visual Guide : The President v the Senate (Confirmed Nominations)

 

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I created this table (and introductory narrative) while I was the US Politics guide at About.com. I left that position in March 2009.