Someone should make a list of the names of these “strong independent minds”, and what percentage of the time they vote with Chuckie. I’m betting it’s over 85% each.
Manchin (WV) votes with Trump 60% and with Schumer 68%
Heitkamp (ND) votes with Trump 54% and with Schumer 73%
McCaskill (MO) votes with Trump 44% and with Schumer 82%
Jon Tester (MT) votes with Trump 36% and with Schumer 85%
Sherrod Brown (OH) votes Trump 28% and with Schumer 94%
Also:
Baldwin (WI) votes with Trump 22% and with Schumer 93%...
Jones (AL) votes with Trump 50% and with Schumer 78%...
but they aren't up for re-election this cycle.
source:
Compare with other Senators
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members
Compare to Trump
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/
Lots of good numbers to ponder and stare at...
47 Senators vote along Trump lines 86% or more
7 are between 73% and 83%
Manchin (WV) is alone in the gap at 60%
3 are between 50% and 54% (all Red States, of course - IN, ND, AL)
37 are between 21% and 44%
and 9 are between 8 and 19%
(104 total, since it includes Strange, Cochran, Sessions, and Franken)
Sessions was 100%, but wasn't there long...
No Republican is below 73%, and Manchin (60%) is the only Dem above 54%.
The HUGE targets:
Jon Tester (D-MT) votes with Trump 36%, but the expectation would be a 85% agreement with Trump (since Trump won MT by 20%).... a discrepancy of 49pts
Sherrod Brown (OH-D), votes with Trump 28%, but the expectation would be a 69% agreement with Trump (Trump won MT by 8%)... a discrepancy of 41pts
Claire McCaskill (MO-D), votes with Trump 45%, but the expectation would be a 83% agreement with Trump (Trump won MT by 19%)... a discrepancy of 38pts
Hetikamp (ND - 37%), Jones (AL - 36%), Baldwin (WI - 33%), Manchin (WV - 30%), and Donnelly (IN - 30%) are all Dems that vote against the President more than 30% more than the expected Senator from a comparable pro-Trump state. That's 8 Senators, most of whom are up for re-election in NOV, that are vastly under-representing their constituency's Trump support.
Surprises:
Rubio (R-FL) is at 96% Trump-side in Senate votes...
Heller (R-NV +47%), Gardner (R-CO +44%), Toomey (R-PA +37%) and (get this) Collins (R-ME +32%) are vastly more pro-Trump than their states' expected representatives...
Rand Paul (R-KY) is the only red-state GOP who supports Trump less than expected (74% instead of the expected 90%)
Same state odd couples:
Toomey (R-PA) contrasts Casey (D-PA) 90% to 29% despite being from the same state...
Gardner (R-CO) contrasts Bennett (D-CO) 91% to 28% on Trump's side...
Portman (R-OH) contrasts Brown (D-OH) 93% to 28%...
And the biggest discrepancy between same-state Senators:
Johnson (R-WI) contrasts Baldwin (D-WI) 91% Trump-votes to 21%, having voted the same only 2 times out of the last 134 Senate votes.