Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Maine

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 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 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.

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.

• 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

• 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 Maine
• Maine State Senate
• Maine House of Representatives

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs