Methodology

To identify the most popular members of congress, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed different measures of popularity for both senators and members of the House of Representatives. 

For Senators, we reviewed approval ratings for the fourth quarter of 2019 with data from research company Morning Consult. Each state has two senators, and the senator with the highest approval rating ranks as the most popular in the state. Approval ratings reflect public opinion of the representatives constituency only. In cases where two senators from the same state had the same approval rating, the senator with the lower disapproval ranking ranked as the most popular. 

To identify the most popular House members, we reviewed the district by district outcome of the 2018 midterm elections for each congressional district. House members are elected to office every two years, and the November 2018 election is the most recent. The House member with the largest margin of victory ranks as the most popular representative in that state. In seven states — Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming — a single House member represents the entire state population. In these states, the representative listed is the most popular by default only. Special elections held after 2018 were not considered in our analysis. Data on 2018 election results came from Ballotpedia, an online encyclopedia of American politics and elections.