Exploring voting behavior on American Indian legislation in the United States Congress

• I explore voting behavior on American Indian legislation in Congress from 1970-2000.
• Districts with tribes demonstrate higher levels of pro-Indian voting.
• Democrats with tribal interests have higher levels of pro-Indian voting than Republicans.

Using roll call data from 1970 to 2000, this study explores the impacts of partisanship, regionalism, and Indian constituency on congressional pro-Indian voting in the U.S. House and Senate. This study incorporates and tests a new measure of constituency by accounting for the presence of a federally recognized tribe within congressional districts. The presence of an Indian nation has a positive effect on the voting behavior of elected officials concerning American Indian legislation, with a significant relationship observed between pro-Indian voting and congressional districts with Indian tribes. The results also suggest a strong partisan influence on the likelihood of voting with the pro-Indian position in both the House and the Senate, but with notable differences between the two chambers. Finally, partisan voting on Indian legislation intensified from the 1970s to the late 1990s, which led to more contentious voting patterns on Indian affairs in the legislative branch over time.