Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Partisanship Results, Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control

Who Runs the States

Main Report Pages

Main Page • Part 1 • Partisanship Infographic • Part 2 • Part 3

Partisanship Results Report (Part 1)

Executive Summary • State Partisanship Analysis • Partisan Control of Governorships • Partisan Control of State Legislatures • Partisan Control of State Senates • Partisan Control of State Houses • State Government Trifectas • Overall Partisan Control: Bright, Medium and Soft States • Changes of Partisan Domination over 22 years • Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control • Trifectas and Presidential Election Patterns • Conclusion • Methodology • Appendix A • Appendix B

State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) Report (Part 2)

Executive Summary • State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) • About the Index • Overall Rankings • Dramatic Changes from 1st Half to 2nd Half • Individual Indicators • Methodology • Appendices

Partisanship and (SQLI) Overlay Report (Part 3)

Introduction • Comparing Partisanship and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) Rankings • Description of the data • Trends and correlations • Methodology • Key Values for Fifty-State Regressions • Appendices

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 contains the section of the report pertaining to the Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control.

Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control

In addition to the simple number of years each party was in control, we took into account the stability of the government’s partisan composition over time. We considered a partisan control change to have taken place when the partisan status of the legislature, governorship, or both changed. From 1992 to 2013, partisan control of each state government could have changed a maximum of 21 times.

State governments had 206 changes in party control, with an average of 9.8 changes annually nationwide. On average, the partisan status of each state’s government changed 4 times, approximately once every five years. Utah had the most stable government with no changes in its Republican trifecta control during this period. Idaho and Massachusetts each had only one change in party control. Nebraska, for which we were only able to track changes in partisan control of its governorship, also had one change. Wisconsin’s government had the most changes in partisan control with a total of nine changes. The Badger State’s party control changed nearly every two years. New Hampshire and North Carolina each had eight changes, followed by Colorado and Virginia with seven each.

Figure 18: Map showing the states with the most and least number of changes in control from 1992-2013

See also

• Ballotpedia:Who runs the states
• Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Part One: State Partisanship
• Full report PDF
• State government trifectas

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs

v • e Who Runs the States Report Background Main Page • Part One: State Partisanship • Partisanship Results Infographic • Part Two: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) • Part Three: Overlaying Results Part 1 Executive Summary • State Partisanship Analysis • Partisan Control of Governorships • Partisan Control of State Legislatures • Partisan Control of State Senates • Partisan Control of State Houses • State Government Trifectas • Overall Partisan Control: Bright, Medium and Soft States • Changes of Partisan Domination over 22 years • Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control • Trifectas and Presidential Election Patterns • Conclusion • Methodology • Appendix A • Appendix B Part 2 Executive Summary • State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) • About the Index • Overall Rankings • Dramatic Changes from 1st Half to 2nd Half • Individual Indicators • Methodology • Appendices Part 3 Introduction • Comparing Partisanship and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) Rankings • Description of the data • Trends and correlations • Methodology • Key Values for Fifty-State Regressions • Appendices State Reports Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming