Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania 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

Pennsylvania Governor

From 1992 to 2013, Pennsylvania had Democratic governors in office for 11 years while there were Republican governors in office for 11 years, including the last three. Pennsylvania 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.

Pennsylvania Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Pennsylvania State Senate for one year while the Republicans were the majority for 21 years. The Pennsylvania State Senate is one of 13 state senates that was Republican for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. Pennsylvania was under Republican trifectas for the final three years of the study.

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

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives for seven years while the Republicans were the majority for 15 years. Pennsylvania was under Republican trifectas for the final three years of the study.

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

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Pennsylvania’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 24.48, which puts it at 25 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The years that Pennsylvania had the highest ranking were 1999, 2000, and 2004, in which Pennsylvania ranked 19th
• The years that Pennsylvania had the lowest ranking were 1994 and 2012, in which it ranked 30th.
• The index type that Pennsylvania had the highest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 1st.
• The index type that Pennsylvania had the lowest ranking in was State/Local Tax Burden, in which it ranked 39th.

Pennsylvania 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	22	15	20
America's Health Rankings	26	26	30	28	27	27	27	28	27	26	27	28	31	28	32	27	30	28	27	28	26
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	19	21	20	22	29	22	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	43	27	37	39	29	32	39	43
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	19	23	33	20	12	30
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	41	39	41	33	30	26	30
Govt. Employment Share Population	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	4	4	4	3
Graduation Rate	14	17	11	14	14	14	14	16	17	16	15	12	11	9	9	10	10	7	8	10	14
Personal Income Per Capita	17	16	18	19	17	18	16	16	16	18	17	18	18	20	20	20	18	18	18	20	19
Poverty Rate	21	26	27	26	21	21	27	14	13	19	13	21	21	20	26	22	19	14	15	17	N/A
Real GDP per capita	26	27	30	28	30	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	29	29	30	31	28	28	28	28	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	26	26	28	29
State Govt. Spending/GDP	34	26	36	32	29	23	23	25	26	25	25	24	24	31	31	31	31	29	33	34	N/A
State & local tax burden	37	35	36	36	36	35	35	34	34	40	40	40	41	41	38	40	40	39	41	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	35
Unemployment Rate	38	35	37	39	34	32	32	31	33	33	29	27	30	28	27	26	26	23	26	24	30
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	26	28	29	N/A
Voter Turnout	38	33	33	35	35	42	42	32	32	35	35	26	26	23	23	26	26	31	31	28	28
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	33	30	30	31	29

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of Pennsylvania 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. Pennsylvania had a Democratic trifecta in 1993, but switched two years later to a Republican trifecta that lasted from 1995-2002. The state had a divided government for many years until a Republican trifecta returned in 2011. Pennsylvania's worst SQLI ranking, finishing 30th, occurred in 1994 during a divided government and in 2012 during a Republican trifecta. The state's best ranking, finishing 19th, occurred from 1999-2000 during a Republican trifecta and again in 2004 during a divided government.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 25.00
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 23.70
• SQLI average with divided government: 25.20

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs