Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Oregon
Praise or blame is extended to political parties for the economic, educational, health and other quality of life outcomes that result from the policies those parties enact into law. To better understand which political party enjoys power in each of the states, Ballotpedia has analyzed state government control from 1992-2013 using the concept of a "partisan trifecta." A partisan trifecta is defined as when a state's governorship and legislative chambers are controlled by the same political party.
The two major political parties claim that their policies will lead to better outcomes. What does the data show?
At Ballotpedia, we explored these issues in a three-part study, Who Runs the States.
This page takes a specific look at how Oregon performed in the study.
Background about the study
- See also: Ballotpedia: Who Runs the States
Part One examines the partisanship of state government from 1992 to 2013. Part Two establishes a State Quality of Life Index (SQLI), aggregating a variety of existing state indices into one measurement. Part Three will overlay the two reports, looking for trends and correlations.
Part 1: Partisanship analysis
Oregon Governor
During every year from 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for Oregon. Oregon is one of seven states that were run by a Democratic governor for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. Oregon was under a Democratic trifecta for the final year of the study.
Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.
Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.
Oregon Senate
From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Oregon State Senate for 12 years while the Republicans were the majority for eight years.
Across the country, there were 541 Democratic and 517 Republican state senates from 1992 to 2013.
Oregon House of Representatives
From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Oregon State House of Representatives for five years while the Republicans were the majority for 15 years. Oregon was under a Democratic trifecta for the final year of the study.
Across the country, there were 577 Democratic and 483 Republican state houses of representatives from 1992 to 2013.
The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Oregon, the Oregon State Senate and the Oregon House of Representatives from 1992-2013.
Partisan control changes
There were five partisan control changes in Oregon during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Oregon slightly higher than the average.
Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)
Oregon’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 32.38, which puts it at 36 in the overall SQLI ranking.[1]
- The year that Oregon had the highest ranking was 2011, in which it ranked 18th.
- The years that Oregon had the lowest ranking were 2003 and 2005, in which it ranked 39th.
- The index type that Oregon had the highest ranking in was Voter Turnout, in which it ranked 3rd.
- The index type that Oregon had the lowest ranking in was Unemployment Rate, in which it ranked 43rd.
Oregon SQLI 1992-2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Index | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |||
24/7 Wall St Best/Worst Governed States | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 27 | 31 | 17 | |||
America's Health Rankings | 22 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 13 | 14 | 8 | 13 | |||
CAFR Debt/GDP | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 34 | 33 | 37 | 33 | 33 | 31 | 29 | N/A | |||
Chief Executive Magazine Best and Worst States for Business Survey | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 39 | 42 | 41 | 27 | 24 | 38 | 33 | 42 | |||
CNBC Top States for Business | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 23 | 20 | 18 | 23 | 27 | 18 | |||
Forbes Best States for Business | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 31 | 28 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 14 | |||
Govt. Employment Share Population | 31 | 30 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 26 | 26 | |||
Graduation Rate | 33 | 35 | 31 | 34 | 31 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 35 | 34 | 33 | 34 | 38 | 37 | 35 | 31 | 34 | 33 | 34 | 24 | 27 | |||
Personal Income Per Capita | 27 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 23 | 28 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 26 | 28 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 33 | 33 | |||
Poverty Rate | 17 | 19 | 24 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 40 | 35 | 31 | 31 | 23 | 30 | 29 | 27 | 30 | 32 | 16 | 27 | 26 | 26 | N/A | |||
Real GDP per capita | 36 | 34 | 35 | 33 | 21 | 36 | 35 | 37 | 34 | 36 | 33 | 34 | 26 | 26 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 21 | 10 | 9 | N/A | |||
S&P Credit Rating | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 22 | 21 | 36 | 36 | 40 | 41 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 13 | 14 | |||
State Govt. Spending/GDP | 30 | 36 | 31 | 38 | 37 | 36 | 39 | 38 | 38 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 31 | 32 | 28 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 28 | N/A | |||
State & local tax burden | 44 | 45 | 45 | 41 | 35 | 39 | 32 | 33 | 37 | 29 | 29 | 33 | 36 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 24 | 28 | 35 | N/A | N/A | |||
Tax Freedom Day | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 26 | |||
Unemployment Rate | 31 | 33 | 25 | 20 | 38 | 42 | 44 | 47 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 45 | 43 | 42 | 41 | 46 | 43 | 40 | 40 | |||
Unfunded Pension Liabilities per capita | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 14 | 13 | 9 | N/A | |||
Voter Turnout | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 15 | |||
Well-Being Index | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 18 | 26 | 28 | 20 | 22 |
Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay
The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Oregon state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied. For the SQLI, the states were ranked from 1-50, with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. Oregon had Democratic trifectas from 2007-2010 and again in 2013. The state's lowest SQLI ranking, finishing 39th, occurred in 2005. Its highest ranking, finishing 18th, occurred in 2011. Both occurred when the government was divided.
See also
- Ballotpedia:Who runs the states
- Governor of Oregon
- Oregon State Senate
- Oregon House of Representatives
Additional information
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: The average rank is compiled by adding up all years of rankings and then dividing by 21 to obtain the average state ranking. This average figure is ranked relative to the rest of the 49 states to derive an overall SQLI ranking.
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