Replication Data for: The Polarization of Energy Policy in the US Congress

Although energy policy used to be a non-partisan issue in Congress, partisan conflicts over energy policies are intense these days. To examine how a non-partisan issue became a highly partisan one, we create and use a new measure of energy policy positions of members of Congress. Our analyses of member behavior show that, in addition to partisan realignment in the South, energy-policy-specific factors—rising oil prices, the climate change debate since 1988, and the salience of energy policy in Congress—are significantly related to increasing party polarization over energy policy. We also find that the increasing convergence between energy policy and environmental policy has significantly contributed to party polarization over energy issues. The study thus provides important understanding of this specific policy area as well as insights into the party polarization literature by demonstrating how policy-specific events and policy convergence transform a non-partisan issue into a highly partisan one.