COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s two Republican U.S. senators have voted the same way 91 percent of the time since January, increasing the Palmetto State’s influence in Washington.

For years, South Carolina’s senators canceled each other out as Republican Strom Thurmond and Democrat Ernest ‘‘Fritz’’ Hollings served lengthy tenures on opposite sides of the aisle.

Sen. Jim DeMint and Sen. Lindsey Graham have seen eye-to-eye on approving President Bush’s judicial nominees, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, signing off on spending cuts and tightening rules on declaring bankruptcy, among other issues.

They differed on the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Graham opposed the measure while DeMint supported it.

When Graham and Hollings served together in 2004, before DeMint’s election, the state’s two senators voted alike only 42 percent of the time.

‘‘There’s a huge difference,’’ between the state having two Republicans and having senators from opposing parties, Graham told The (Columbia) State. ‘‘Politics is still basically a team sport. Jim and I generally have a very common view of where we would like to take the government on a federal level.’’

But he said that on issues specific to the state, like funding for road projects, the senators’ partisan alignment makes no difference.

‘‘We’re following the Thurmond-Hollings model,’’ he said. ‘‘We work with the whole delegation. We put partisan differences aside.’’

State GOP chairman Katon Dawson called the disparity between the voting records of the Graham-DeMint duo and the Hollings-Graham pairing ‘‘a landslide.’’

‘‘That’s why we worked to get these people elected,’’ he said. ‘‘Ninety-one percent — that’s going to be a very conservative voting record.’’

But having its two senators in sync on major issues is not always a good thing, said Hastings Wyman, a former Thurmond aide.

‘‘There are times when it would be good to have a good entry into the minority party,’’ Wyman said. ‘‘And it would be especially good if the White House changes hands.’’

Lachlan McIntosh, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said having senators from two different parties gave the state more credibility.