Political positions of Mitt Romney

This article is part of a series about Mitt Romney
Political positions Electoral history Business career Salt Lake Organizing Committee Public image Governor of Massachusetts Governorship 2002 election Health care reform Presidential campaigns 2008 Primaries Convention 2012 Primaries Convention Debates "Binders full of women" Election Endorsements Planned presidential transition U.S. Senator from Utah Turnaround No Apology Anti-Trump speech
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The political positions of Mitt Romney have been recorded from his 1994 U.S. senatorial campaign in Massachusetts, the 2002 gubernatorial election, during his 2003–2007 governorship, during his 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, in his 2010 book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, during his 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, and during his 2018 senatorial campaign in Utah. Some of these political positions have changed, while others have remained unchanged.

In 1994, during his campaign for US Senate in Massachusetts, "Romney has cast himself as a moderate Republican, socially liberal and fiscally conservative" and The New York Times likened his views to those of Governor William F. Weld.^[1] During his gubernatorial campaign in 2002, Romney described himself as a centrist saying of himself: "I'm someone who is moderate, and ... my views are progressive."^[2] The Boston Globe, reporting on the 2004 Republican National Convention list of speakers, wrote that "Massachusetts Republicans with moderate positions on most social issues, Romney and [Lt. Gov. Kerry] Healey also fit into the moderate tone that the Bush campaign wants to project for its [2004] convention." In 2005, Romney described his views as being "moderate on the national scene."^[3][4] However, in 2007, Romney launched his first presidential campaign and referred to himself as consistently conservative.^[5] In 2011, again running a presidential campaign, he described himself as being "'in sync' with the conservative Tea Party."^[6] In 2012, speaking at CPAC, a conservative political action committee, Romney described his tenure as a 'severely conservative' Governor of Massachusetts.^[7] Since 2019, while serving as a United States Senator from Utah, Romney was considered to be among the Senate's moderate Republicans.^{[8][9][10][11]}

In 2012, Gallup surveyed Americans about their perceptions of presidential candidates and 45% perceived Mitt Romney as conservative, 29% as moderate, and 12% as liberal with 14% having no opinion about his ideology.^[12] In 2016, Romney considered endorsing and voting for the Libertarian Party's presidential ticket.^[13][14] Romney announced that he did not plan to make an endorsement for president in 2020.^[15][16] He was one of three Republican Senators, the others being Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who refused to co-sponsor a resolution opposing the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.^[17][18][19] He was one of two Republicans voting with Democrats to allow witnesses during the impeachment trial, being disinvited from CPAC as a result.^[20][21] In February 2020, he became the sole Republican to vote in favor of convicting President Trump under the first article of impeachment.^[22][23] In the U.S. Senate, as of January 2021, Romney had voted with President Trump on legislative issues about 75% of the time.^[24] As of October 2022, he has voted with President Biden's legislative positions about 56.4% of the time.^[25]