The data in this archive are organized by party and by year. Users should begin by consulting the index of whipped questions.
For each whip count in the database, the index provides an identification number, the relevant party, the approximate date that the whip count began, and the text of the question that members were asked to answer by the leaders of their party within the House.
Most of the “whipped” questions can be directly and meaningfully associated with a recorded vote that took place on the House floor. Identification numbers for these votes are also provided in the index using the numbering scheme from the Voteview website, which is the most accurate and accessible database that we have of the roll calls cast in Congress.
If there is no Voteview number provided for a question in the index, most often the reason is that the matter as polled was not directly the subject of a roll call. Users of this database should consult my explanation of how whip counts are associated with specific roll call votes.
Explaining Count-Vote Linkages (pdf)
If you are interested in how individual House members responded to the whipped questions in the index, the information can be found in the extensive member-level data sets included in this archive.