Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Minnesota

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 Minnesota 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

Minnesota Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for the last three years while there were Republican governors in office for 15 years. For the final year of the study Minnesota was under a Democratic trifecta.

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.

Minnesota Senate

From 1992-2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Minnesota State Senate for 20 years while the Republicans were the majority for two years. The Minnesota State Senate is one of 16 state senates that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013.

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

Minnesota House of Representatives

From 1992-2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Minnesota State House of Representatives for 12 years while the Republicans were the majority for 10 years.

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

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Minnesota’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 3.14, which puts it at 2 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The years that Minnesota had the highest ranking were 2010 and 2011, in which it ranked 1st.
• The years that Minnesota had the lowest ranking were 1994, 2000, 2006, and 2012, in which it ranked 5th.
• The index types that Minnesota had the highest ranking in were America’s Health Rankings and Voter Turnout, in which it ranked 1st.
• The index type that Minnesota had the lowest ranking in was Tax Freedom Day, in which it ranked 42nd.

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

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Minnesota 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. Minnesota has been under divided government for the entirety of the study (1992-2012) until the state elected a Democratic trifecta in 2012. Minnesota also ranked in the top-5 of the SQLI ranking for the entirety of the study, reaching its lowest ranking (5th) in four separate years. The state hit the top spot twice, in 2011 and 2012, under divided government.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with divided government: 3.14

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs