Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Florida

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 Florida 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

Florida Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for 7 years while there were Republican governors in office for 14 years. Florida 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.

Florida Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Florida State Senate for the last 19 years while the Democrats were the majority for one year. The Florida State Senate is one of 13 state senates that was Republican for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. During the final three years of the study, Florida was under Republican trifectas.

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

Florida House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Florida State House of Representatives for the last 17 years while the Democrats were the majority for five years. During the final three years of the study, Florida was under Republican trifectas.

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

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Florida’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 23.05, which puts it at 24 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Florida had the highest ranking was 2007, in which it ranked 8th.
• The year that Florida had the lowest ranking was 1994, in which it ranked 34th.
• The index type that Florida had the highest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 4th.
• The index type that Florida had the lowest ranking in was Graduation Rate, in which it ranked 46th.

Florida 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	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	42	40	42
America's Health Rankings	38	36	37	35	36	30	36	35	34	37	38	38	34	33	37	34	36	36	36	34	34
CAFR Debt/GDP	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	22	25	21	27	22	21	22	K.A.
Chief Executive Magazine Best and Worst States for Business Survey	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	3	4	3	10	3	6	3	2
CNBC Top States for Business	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	8	17	28	28	18	29
Forbes Best States for Business	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	9	7	8	18	26	24	27
Govt. Employment Share Population	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	2	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	3	3	3	2	2
Graduation Rate	48	48	45	47	48	47	46	46	46	44	47	48	46	44	42	44	44	45	44	44	44
Personal Income Per Capita	19	19	20	20	20	20	21	21	21	22	20	22	19	18	18	19	23	26	24	26	27
Poverty Rate	32	41	36	40	36	34	31	34	32	35	32	33	25	19	29	30	30	35	33	28	K.A.
Real GDP per capita	34	35	38	37	39	34	34	36	37	37	38	37	36	34	31	34	36	37	38	39	K.A.
S&P Credit Rating	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	11	11	10	10	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
State Govt. Spending/GDP	9	10	10	11	12	11	11	9	7	9	5	5	5	10	10	7	9	4	7	9	K.A.
State & local tax burden	12	15	16	15	14	11	12	11	10	15	15	16	16	12	9	15	17	20	24	K.A.	K.A.
Tax Freedom Day	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	21
Unemployment Rate	42	37	39	37	28	31	28	24	25	28	30	18	17	11	10	20	38	42	46	44	39
Unfunded Pension Liabilities per capita	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	6	7	5	K.A.
Voter Turnout	33	23	23	29	29	33	33	26	26	16	16	19	19	33	33	20	20	29	29	14	14
Well-Being Index	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	29	36	37	42	34

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Florida 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. During the years studied, Florida achieved place in the top-10 in only one year (2007). The state had one Democratic trifecta in 1992, while it has had a Republican trifecta for a total of fourteen years. Florida’s most precipitous drop in the SQLI ranking occurred between 2007 and 2008, when the state dropped from 8th to 19th. Florida also experienced a significant drop in the ranking between 2009 and 2010.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 29.00
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 19.00
• SQLI average with divided government: 29.71

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

Zusätzliche Informationen

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs