Legislators' Support of the President: An Individual-level Comparison of Foreign/Defense and Domestic Policy Decision Making in the 95th to 108th House of Representatives.

In the presidential system, the probability that a president will draw legislators' support for his positions is said to be greater in foreign and defense policy than in domestic policy such that one may consider that there are two presidents, one acting in each of the two policy areas. This idea is based primarily on the assumption that legislators are deferential to the president in foreign and defense policy. Analyzing individual-level data related to legislators' voting behaviors in the 95th to 108th House of Representatives of the United States, this article shows that this is not the case. Foreign policy as well as domestic policy is the product of political and ideological conflicts within the legislature and between the executive and legislative branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]