CQ Voting Studies are an annual analysis of a member's support or opposition to a given position. Interest Group Ratings are based on rankings from groups chosen to represent liberal, conservative, business and labor viewpoints.Voting Participation scores are based on the number of times a member voted "yea" or "nay" on roll call votes (not including quorum calls in the House). CQ Vote Studies Year Presidential Support Party Unity   S* O* S O 1998 78% 20% 93% 3% 1997 84 16 96 4 S=Support; O=Oppose
Voting Participation Year % 1998 96 1997 99	Interest Groups Year ADA AFL-CIO CCUS ACU 1998 100% n/a 39% 4 % 1997 100 100 30 4
Note on Interest Groups: ADA=Americans for Democratic Action; AFL-CIO=American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations; CCUS=Chamber of Commerce of the United States; ACU=American Conservative Union

MASSACHUSETTS 3 : Central and southeast - Worcester; coastal towns

From the mountains of Princeton to the ocean near Dartmouth, the 3rd cuts a diagonal sliver between the two towns that prompted the region's nickname, the "Ivy League" district, though neither school is in the state.

Worcester, a working-class city and the 3rd's population hub, dominates the district and plans to revitalize its downtown. A late-1990s $200-million project will centralize its respected hospitals, research institutes and some drug manufacturing plants into an area called Medical City. Suburban communities to the north and south of Worcester have been filling up with suburbanites who commute to jobs in Boston or Providence, R.I. After building a commuter rail, Franklin, to the southeast, has grown by more than 20 percent since 1990, the fastest in the state. Fall River (shared with the 4th District) is a fishing community at the southern end of the 3rd that has long been a bastion of blue-collar white ethnic Democrats. The city also has consistently had one of the highest unemployment rates in Massachusetts.

After the 1990 census, then-Gov. William F. Weld forced a compromise with Democrats to draw the 3rd in a way that would give his Republicans a chance to win it. Democrats control the two tails of the district - the blue-collar bases in Worcester and Fall River. A ring of strong Republican support hovers in the towns surrounding Worcester, including Paxton, Holden, the Boylstons and Shrewsbury. However, Democrats can control the district unless urban voter turnout is especially low.

Major Industry
Health care, heavy manufacturing, retail

Population
601,852 (1990)

Cities
Worcester, 166,350 (1996); Fall River (pt.), 45,024 (1990); Attleboro, 39,070 (1996)

People
80% urban; 14% age 65+ (ranks eighth of 10 in state; middle third nationally); 58% married couples, 27% married couples with children; 24% college educated (ranks eighth of 10 in state; top third nationally); 62% white collar (ranks eighth of 10 in state; top third nationally), 24% blue collar (ranks third of 10 in state; middle third nationally) (1990)

Race
95% white, 2% black, 2% Asian; 4% Hispanic origin (1990)

Median Household Income
$36,873 (ranks seventh of 10 in state; top third nationally) (1990)

Unusual Features
First American novel, William Hill Brown's "The Power of Sympathy," published in Worcester.

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