Divided government in the US - the last 45 years

The checks and balances between the three branches of the federal government have important consequences for US politics. Gridlock can result when the Senate disagrees with the President. For most recent presidents have accused the Senate of either rejecting or blocking their judicial nominations for partisan reasons.

This raises the issue of 'divided government', a term used to refer to the situation in which one party controls the presidency and the other party controls Congress. Of late, this has become the norm. 

The 40 years between 1969 and 2009 have seen 22 years of divided government when both houses of Congress were controlled by the party which did not control the White House.

Year	President	Senate	House
1969-1971	R	D	D
1971-1973	R	D	D
1973-1975	R	D	D
1975-1977	R	D	D
1977–1979	D	D	D
1979–1981	D	D	D
1981-1983	R	R	D
1983-1985	R	R	D
1985-1987	R	R	D
1987-1989	R	D	D
1989-1991	R	D	D
1991-1993	R	D	D
1993–1995	D	D	D
1995-1997	D	R	R
1997-1999	D	R	R
1999-2001	D	R	R
2001-2003	R	D*	R
2003–2005	R	R	R
2005–2007	R	R	R
2007-2009	R	D	D
2009–2011	D	D	D
2011-2013	D	D	R
2013-2015	D	D	R

*The 2000 election resulted in a 50-50 tie in the Senate, and the Constitution gives tie-breaking power to the Vice President. The Vice President was Democrat Al Gore from January 3, 2001 until the inauguration of Republican Richard Cheney on January 20. Then on May 24, Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to caucus with the Democrats as an independent, resulting in another shift of control.