Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, South Carolina

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 South Carolina 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

South Carolina Governor

From 1992 to 2013, South Carolina had Democratic governors in office for four years while there were Republican governors in office for 18 years, including the last 11. South Carolina is one of eight states that were run by a Republican governor for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. South Carolina was under Republican trifectas for the final 11 years of the study.

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.

South Carolina Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the South Carolina State Senate for the first nine years while the Republicans were the majority for the last 13 years.

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

South Carolina House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the South Carolina State House of Representatives for the first three years while the Republicans were the majority for the last 19 years. The South Carolina House of Representatives is one of nine state Houses that was Republican for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992 to 2013.

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

Partisan control changes

There were four partisan control changes in South Carolina during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting South Carolina equal to the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

South Carolina’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 44.67, which puts it at 45 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that South Carolina had the highest ranking was 2012, in which it ranked 38th.
• The year that South Carolina had the lowest ranking was 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2004, and 2005, in which it ranked 47th.
• The index type that South Carolina had the highest ranking in was Tax Freedom Day, in which it ranked 4th.
• The index type that South Carolina had the lowest ranking in was Graduation Rate, in which it ranked 50th.

South Carolina 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	44	45	43
America's Health Rankings	47	48	46	47	48	44	41	45	45	47	47	45	44	43	43	42	45	46	41	45	46
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	35	34	33	33	32	31	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	8	12	8	9	9	10	8	7
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	29	29	37	31	37	32
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	27	23	29	25	34	28	22
Govt. Employment Share Population	33	33	31	28	28	28	29	30	29	29	28	27	25	25	24	24	24	24	23	21	24
Graduation Rate	49	48	48	49	50	50	50	50	49	49	50	50	50	50	50	50	49	48	49	49	47
Personal Income Per Capita	43	43	42	40	40	38	39	38	39	41	40	41	43	44	45	45	46	47	46	48	48
Poverty Rate	45	43	29	47	34	29	35	26	33	43	41	33	41	42	25	40	36	29	41	48	N/A
Real GDP per capita	41	40	41	42	42	37	40	39	41	43	43	42	43	45	46	45	47	48	48	48	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	10	10	10	12	12	12	13	14
State Govt. Spending/GDP	39	39	39	35	41	39	38	37	40	42	43	43	43	44	43	44	45	45	43	42	N/A
State & local tax burden	10	12	12	11	13	10	14	15	17	14	14	15	17	15	10	13	10	9	10	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	4
Unemployment Rate	21	37	32	23	38	20	16	25	20	38	39	43	47	48	47	45	45	48	45	45	43
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	25	24	25	N/A
Voter Turnout	50	44	44	49	49	31	31	45	45	40	40	49	49	44	44	40	40	36	36	37	37
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	31	33	35	33	39

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

South Carolina 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. South Carolina was Republican-dominated during the years of the study but experienced a shift toward much stronger Republican control, resulting in Republican trifectas from 2003-2013.

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the South Carolina 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. South Carolina ranked in the bottom-10 during every year of the study except the most recent. In 2012 it improved, finishing at 38th. The state's worst ranking, finishing 47th, occurred during both divided government and Republican trifectas.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 44.30
• SQLI average with divided government: 45.00

Chart displaying the partisanship of the South Carolina 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 South Carolina
• South Carolina State Senate
• South Carolina House of Representatives

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs