Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Maine

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Who Runs the States

Main Report Pages
Main PagePart 1Partisanship InfographicPart 2Part 3

Partisanship Results Report (Part 1)
Executive SummaryState Partisanship AnalysisPartisan Control of GovernorshipsPartisan Control of State LegislaturesPartisan Control of State SenatesPartisan Control of State HousesState Government TrifectasOverall Partisan Control: Bright, Medium and Soft StatesChanges of Partisan Domination over 22 yearsYear-to-Year Changes in State Partisan ControlTrifectas and Presidential Election PatternsConclusionMethodologyAppendix AAppendix B

State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) Report (Part 2)
Executive SummaryState Quality of Life Index (SQLI)About the IndexOverall RankingsDramatic Changes from 1st Half to 2nd HalfIndividual IndicatorsMethodologyAppendices

Partisanship and (SQLI) Overlay Report (Part 3)
IntroductionComparing Partisanship and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) RankingsDescription of the dataTrends and correlationsMethodologyKey Values for Fifty-State RegressionsAppendices

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 Maine 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

Maine Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for eight years while there were Republican governors in office for six years, including the last three.

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.

Maine Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Maine State Senate for 16 years while the Republicans were the majority for four years.

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

Maine House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Maine State House of Representatives for 20 years while the Republicans were the majority for two years. The Maine 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 Maine, the Maine State Senate and the Maine House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Partisan composition of Maine state government(1992-2013).PNG

Partisan control changes

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

Maine legislature pie chart 1992-2013.png
Maine government pie chart 1992-2013.png
Maine gubernatorial pie chart 1992-2013.png

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Maine’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 34.95, which puts it at 38 in the overall SQLI ranking.[1]

  • The year that Maine had the highest ranking was 2012, in which it ranked 27th.
  • The year that Maine had the lowest ranking was 2007, in which it ranked 45th.
  • The index type that Maine had the highest ranking in was Voter Turnout, in which it ranked 2nd.
  • The index type that Maine had the lowest ranking in was Forbes’ Best States, in which it ranked 46th.
Maine 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 17 14 35
America's Health Rankings 20 17 16 14 18 19 12 11 13 12 16 16 13 10 14 14 12 9 8 10 9
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 37 41 43 39 41 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 34 36 38 35 33 37 36 32
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 42 44 40 39 40 35
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 46 48 46 41 50 30 50
Govt. Employment Share Population 25 25 23 22 21 20 20 23 26 28 28 29 30 30 30 30 30 30 29 26 29
Graduation Rate 16 14 12 29 28 29 25 24 9 13 12 11 20 24 23 23 23 26 20 18 17
Personal Income Per Capita 35 35 35 35 36 35 35 35 34 32 31 31 31 35 33 35 33 29 29 29 28
Poverty Rate 26 33 11 21 18 17 20 21 24 25 35 28 25 32 18 24 23 16 20 20 N/A
Real GDP per capita 40 41 43 44 44 43 41 42 40 41 40 40 41 41 42 42 41 41 41 42 N/A
S&P Credit Rating N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 38 36 36 36 40 41 43 24 26 26 28 29
State Govt. Spending/GDP 44 45 45 43 44 43 42 41 41 41 42 44 44 45 45 45 42 41 42 41 N/A
State & local tax burden 43 44 42 44 45 45 47 45 45 49 49 47 45 40 46 42 43 42 42 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 10
Unemployment Rate 28 29 38 38 25 32 28 23 14 10 10 15 15 25 32 35 29 25 22 22 26
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 40 42 35 N/A
Voter Turnout 1 4 4 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 3 3 5 5 5 5 2 2 6 6
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 24 15 25 25 20

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Maine 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. Between 1992 and 2002, the state experienced divided government until electing a Democratic trifecta, which occurred between 2003 and 2011. For two years (2011 and 2012), the state had a Republican trifecta before reverting back to divided government. Maine hit the bottom-10 in the SQLI ranking in 2006 and 2007 (42nd and 45th, respectively). Its highest ranking in the SQLI ranking occurred in 2012 (27th) under a Republican trifecta. The state rose seven points in the SQLI ranking between the years 2010 and 2011.

  • SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 38.38
  • SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 28.00
  • SQLI average with divided government: 33.73
Chart displaying the partisanship of Maine government from 1992-2013 and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI).

See also

Additional information

External links

Footnotes

  1. 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.