Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Illinois

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 Illinois 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

Illinois Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for the first 11 years while there were Republican governors in office for the last 11 years. During the final 11 years of the study, Illinois was under Democratic trifectas.

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.

Illinois Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Illinois State Senate for 12 years while the Republicans were the majority for 10 years.

Across the country, there were 541 Democratic and 517 Republican state senates from 1992 to 2013.

Illinois House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Illinois State House of Representatives for 20 years while the Republicans were the majority for 2 years. The Illinois State House of Representatives is one of 18 state Houses that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992 and 2013.

Across the country, there were 579 Democratic and 482 Republican State Houses of Representatives from 1992 to 2013.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Illinois, the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Partisan control changes

There were four partisan control changes in Illinois during the study period, the same as the average number of changes in the 50 states.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Illinois’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 19.05, which puts it at 19 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Illinois had the highest ranking was 1997, in which it ranked 5th.
• The year that Illinois had the lowest ranking was 2012, in which it ranked 42nd.
• The index type that Illinois had the highest ranking in was State Government Spending/GDP, in which it ranked 5th.
• The index type that Illinois had the lowest ranking in was 24/7 Wall Street’s Best and Worst Governed States, in which it ranked 48th.

Illinois 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	43	49	48
America's Health Rankings	31	32	35	34	34	33	29	27	30	31	31	30	29	27	23	28	29	29	29	30	30
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	29	26	27	31	30	35	37	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	17	8	40	42	45	45	48	48
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	39	30	25	30	22	26
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	44	40	35	24	37	41	38
Govt. Employment Share Population	8	7	7	11	11	9	9	9	7	6	8	6	6	6	8	7	7	7	8	8	8
Graduation Rate	23	18	18	19	19	16	10	14	13	14	25	27	23	18	25	16	19	17	17	15	21
Personal Income Per Capita	8	8	8	7	6	6	6	9	9	11	10	11	11	13	11	12	13	14	13	16	16
Poverty Rate	32	29	26	30	28	21	17	18	27	23	33	31	31	24	22	20	25	25	25	24	N/A
Real GDP per capita	12	11	10	10	10	9	10	11	12	10	11	11	12	13	13	13	13	14	17	16	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	20	21	24	49	49	49	49
State Govt. Spending/GDP	4	2	1	4	5	3	3	4	5	5	6	6	9	5	4	5	6	8	10	7	N/A
State & local tax burden	29	28	27	27	26	23	22	23	22	31	31	28	29	28	30	27	30	43	40	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	44
Unemployment Rate	39	42	31	25	28	26	28	33	38	43	44	43	44	42	30	40	39	38	41	41	41
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	49	49	49	N/A
Voter Turnout	23	39	39	27	27	26	26	25	25	26	26	28	28	31	31	25	25	26	26	32	32
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	29	28	26	32	26

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

Illinois was one of eight states to demonstrate a dramatic partisan shift in the 22 years studied. A dramatic shift was defined by a movement of 40 percent or more toward one party over the course of the study period.

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Illinois 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. For a period of two years (1995 and 1996), Illinois had a Republican trifecta between two periods of divided government (1992-1995 and 1997-2002). Between 2003 and 2013, Illinois has had a Democratic trifecta. For four straight years, Illinois was in the top-10 in the SQLI ranking between 1997 and 2000 under divided government. Illinois slipped into the bottom-10 in the ranking in the year 2012 (41st) under a Democratic trifecta. The state had its most precipitous drop in the SQLI ranking between 2006 and 2007, dropping nine spots. Illinois had its biggest leap in the SQLI ranking between 1996 and 1997, rising eight spots in the ranking.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 27.10
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 11.50
• SQLI average with divided government: 11.78

Chart displaying the partisanship of Illinois 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 Illinois
• Illinois State Senate
• Illinois House of Representatives

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs