William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

432 Chapter 12Chapter 12 || The PresidencyThe Presidency

Figure 12.1 shows the number of vetoes issued by recent presidents—and the number

overridden by Congress. In general, vetoes are most likely to occur under divided

government, when a president from one party faces a House and Senate controlled by

the other party (in the case of Obama, the relatively small number of vetoes reflects a

FIGURE

12 .1

111th (2009–2011)

Unified

112th (2011–2013)

Divided

113th (2013–2015)

Divided

114th (2015–2017)

Divided

Barack Obama

101st (1989–1991)

Divided

No vetoes

No vetoes

No vetoes

10

No vetoes

No vetoes

1

1

1

19

25

17

8

12

1

11

2

4

102nd (1991–1993)

Divided

George H. W. Bush

President Congress Presidential vetoes

103rd (1993–1995) No vetoes

Unified

104th (1995–1997)

Divided

105th (1997–1999)

Divided

106th (1999–2001)

Divided

Bill Clinton

2

107th (2001–2003)

Divided

108th (2003–2005)

Unified

109th (2005–2007)

Unified

110th (2007–2009)

Divided

George W. Bush

Regular and Pocket Vetoes Veto Overrides

Donald Trump 115th (2017–2019)

Unified

Presidential Vetoes from Bush to Trump

The figure shows the number of vetoes issued by recent presidents in each congressional term they held office, along with

whether the term involved unified or divided government. Do the data support the argument that vetoes are less likely given

unified government? Compared with other presidents, did Presidents Trump and Obama issue an inordinately high or low

number of vetoes?

Source: Data aggregated by the author.

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