Republican · 2001–2009
George W. Bush
Tax cuts, No Child Left Behind, Iraq and Afghanistan, and a larger security state after 2001.
George W. Bush was president 2001–2009. The party color on the chart is Republican. Early presidents are not forced into today’s party names. The placement note is: Tax cuts, No Child Left Behind, Iraq and Afghanistan, and a larger security state after 2001.
The dot is economics +38 and authority +46. That is right of center on economics. The other axis sits toward authority. Color and place are allowed to disagree. Theodore Roosevelt sits left of Grover Cleveland on economics.
What was said, and what the administration did, are filed separately. Said: Compassionate conservatism, tax cuts, and a humble foreign policy. Done: The tax cuts passed. After 2001 the foreign policy was Iraq, Afghanistan, and a larger security state. Where those two sentences pull apart, the dot follows the governing record, not the slogan.
The nearest other presidents on these two numbers are William McKinley (1897–1901, +28 / +32) and John Adams (1797–1801, +20 / +40). A small distance can join people who would have disliked each other. The chart is a compression, not a claim that they were alike.
Presidents are not placed with the Voteview roll-call score used for the current Congress. Two axes cannot carry a war, a court, a tariff, and a civil-rights record as separate facts.