Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Tennessee

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 takes a specific look at how Tennessee 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

Tennessee Governor

From 1992 to 2013, Tennessee had Democratic governors in office for 11 years while there were Republican governors in office for 11 years, including the last three. Tennessee was under Republican trifectas for the last three years of the study period.

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.

Tennessee Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Tennessee 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.

Tennessee House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Tennessee State House of Representatives for first 18 years while the Republicans were the majority for the last four years. The Tennessee House of Representatives is one of 18 state Houses that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013.

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 Tennessee, the Tennessee State Senate and the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Partisan control changes

There were six partisan control changes in Tennessee during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Tennessee higher than the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Tennessee’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 31.43, which puts it at 34 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Tennessee had the highest ranking was 2012, in which it ranked 21st.
• The year that Tennessee had the lowest ranking was 2004, in which it ranked 40th.
• The index type that Tennessee had the highest ranking in was Tax Freedom Day, in which it ranked 1st.
• The index types that Tennessee had the lowest ranking in were America’s Health Rankings and Well-being Index, in which it ranked 44th.

Tennessee SQLI 1992-2012
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	35	29	12
America's Health Rankings	43	44	44	43	44	48	47	44	42	45	43	48	47	49	46	43	48	44	42	41	39
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	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	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	7	11	7	6	5	3	4	4
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	17	21	20	16	18	16
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	20	13	17	23	22	21	24
Govt. Employment Share Population	15	15	15	14	15	13	14	13	13	12	12	11	15	11	11	10	9	10	12	13	10
Graduation Rate	41	41	39	42	43	41	39	47	43	48	48	47	48	49	45	45	40	38	35	31	24
Personal Income Per Capita	34	33	32	31	33	34	34	34	35	36	35	36	36	37	39	39	40	37	35	35	34
Poverty Rate	39	44	35	38	38	34	32	29	41	39	44	39	44	41	42	44	42	41	39	39	N/A
Real GDP per capita	29	25	26	27	32	32	31	30	36	35	34	36	35	35	36	36	37	40	34	34	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	20	18	17	10	10	12	12	12	13	14
State Govt. Spending/GDP	7	7	8	10	10	9	7	7	8	10	10	13	11	11	9	10	10	10	8	10	N/A
State & local tax burden	5	6	5	3	3	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	5	7	7	7	3	3	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	1
Unemployment Rate	21	18	18	28	28	37	28	25	28	28	22	27	31	41	42	37	43	43	34	36	31
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	11	12	10	N/A
Voter Turnout	43	37	37	40	40	49	49	38	38	32	32	40	40	29	29	43	43	49	49	45	45
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	43	42	40	41	47

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Tennessee 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. Tennessee experienced both Democratic and Republican trifectas during the years of the study. Its best ranking, finishing 21st, occurred in 2012 during a Republican trifecta. Its worst ranking, finishing 40th, occurred in 2004 during a Democratic trifecta.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 34.00
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 23.00
• SQLI average with divided government: 31.71

Chart displaying the partisanship of the Tennessee government from 1992-2013 and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI).

See also

• Ballotpedia:Who runs the states
  • Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Part One: State Partisanship
  • Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Part Two: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)
• Governor of Tennessee
• Tennessee State Senate
• Tennessee House of Representatives

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs