CPAC Ratings
Methodology
How CPAC rates legislators and governors.
Legislators
CPAC rates members of Congress and state legislators on how they vote.
Voting Records
Legislators are scored based on their voting records on bills selected by CPAC. Each vote is compared against the conservative position on that bill.
Double-Rated Bills
Very important bills are double rated, counting twice toward the legislator’s score to reflect their greater impact.
Governors
CPAC divides its ratings of governors into three sections that evaluate different aspects of each governor's performance.
Legislative (50% of Score)
Based on the bills the governor signs and vetoes, using the legislation employed in CPAC Foundation's Ratings of the States and the same method used to rate state legislators.
Executive Action (40% of Score)
Based on executive orders issued and actions taken on the 17 issues scored by CPAC Foundation's Ratings of the States and Congress. Each issue receives a score of 0 to 4, from very Leftist to very conservative; issues with no significant action are marked N/A and excluded.
Fiscal (10% of Score)
Based on how much the state budget grew on average each year of the governor's tenure after inflation and population growth. The raw score is then adjusted for major tax cuts and tax increases.