Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Arizona

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 Arizona 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

Arizona Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for 6 years while there were Republican governors in office for 16 years, including the last 11. Arizona was under Republican trifectas for the last five 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.

Arizona Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Arizona State Senate for 20 years while the Democrats were never the majority. The Arizona State Senate is one of 13 state senates that was Republican for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. The Arizona senate spent the last 11 years under the control of the Republican party.

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

Arizona House of Representatives

From 1992-2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Arizona State House of Representatives. The Arizona State House is one of nine state Houses that was Republican for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013.

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

Partisan control changes

There were three partisan control changes in Arizona during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Arizona slightly lower than the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Arizona’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 32.43, which puts it at 37th in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Arizona had the highest ranking was 2006, in which it ranked 13th.
• The year that Arizona had the lowest ranking was 2002, in which it ranked 41st.
• The index types that Arizona had the highest ranking in were CAFR Debt to GDP and Unfunded pension liabilities per capita, in which it ranked 7th.
• The index types that Arizona had the lowest ranking in was 24/7 Wall Street’s Best and Worst Governed States, in which it ranked 49th.

Arizona 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	48	47	47
America's Health Rankings	28	24	27	25	29	36	33	33	29	29	28	26	23	25	29	29	27	27	31	27	25
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	7	3	3	5	8	11	10	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	4	6	5	5	8	11	13	10
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	10	12	18	18	24	22
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	15	18	18	36	23	20	25
Govt. Employment Share Population	22	21	19	17	14	15	17	17	15	14	14	14	10	8	5	6	6	5	6	6	7
Graduation Rate	31	31	33	35	36	42	43	39	39	39	41	28	26	26	25	43	8	39	39	41	41
Personal Income Per Capita	36	36	37	36	38	36	37	37	37	37	37	38	37	32	27	32	35	38	41	41	41
Poverty Rate	36	33	40	39	47	48	44	32	34	41	36	38	39	43	41	41	47	49	47	42	N/A
Real GDP per capita	35	37	36	34	34	41	38	34	35	33	36	35	37	31	28	30	32	36	39	38	N/A
S&P Credit Rating	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	36	36	18	17	20	21	24	45	45	45	45
State Govt. Spending/GDP	19	18	12	12	13	12	12	10	14	11	11	11	15	15	12	16	16	18	18	18	N/A
State & local tax burden	28	27	25	21	19	12	11	14	16	17	17	17	15	16	14	22	16	13	11	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	15
Unemployment Rate	33	26	33	28	35	24	23	33	28	28	39	27	22	21	21	15	35	36	42	37	35
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	7	10	7	N/A
Voter Turnout	35	34	34	46	46	44	44	48	48	44	44	45	45	35	35	44	44	33	33	44	44
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	13	22	29	26	22

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Arizona 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. Arizona had Republican trifectas between 1993 and 2001 and between 2009 and 2013, but no Democratic trifectas during the period of the study. Between these two trifectas, Arizona had divided government. In three separate years, Arizona ranked in the bottom-10 in the SQLI ranking, two of which occurred under Republican trifectas (1996 and 1997) and the other during divided government (2002). Arizona’s highest SQLI ranking occurred in 2006 (16th), under divided government, while its lowest ranking (41st) occurred in 2002 under divided government.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 36.33
• SQLI average with divided government: 27.22

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs