Visualizing the Historically Low Senate Support for Trump's Cabinet

With the confirmation of four more of President Trump’s secretary-level appointments this week, the new administration is close to filling all 15 openings that technically comprise the “cabinet”. Only two departments, Agriculture and Labor, still have vacancies.

It’s at this point we can begin to view Senate support for the president’s selections in a historical context. George H.W. Bush retained his predecessor’s top Treasury official, and there were no Homeland Security or Veterans Affairs posts in the Reagan and Carter years. Each of these three presidents had 13 cabinet secretaries of what constitutes the current 15-member arrangement, exactly the same number as Trump has now.