Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Michigan

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 Michigan 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

Michigan Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for eight years while there were Republican governors in office for 14 years, including the last three. Michigan 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.

Michigan Senate

During every year from 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Michigan State Senate. The Michigan State Senate is one of 13 state senates that was Republican 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.

Michigan House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Michigan State House of Representatives for 13 years while the Democrats were the majority for seven 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 Michigan, the Michigan State Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Michigan’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 30.86, which puts it at 32 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Michigan had the highest ranking was 1999, in which it ranked 17th.
• The years that Michigan had the lowest ranking were 2009 and 2010, in which it ranked 47th.
• The index type that Michigan had the highest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 5th.
• The index type that Michigan had the lowest ranking in was Unemployment Rate, in which it ranked 50th.

Michigan 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.	47	48	31
America's Health Rankings	32	33	33	32	30	28	28	30	28	28	30	29	35	32	30	33	31	30	28	33	37
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.	10	13	12	15	17	21	17	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.	45	47	46	48	48	48	46	46
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.	41	40	41	41	34	33
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.	45	46	47	49	47	47	47
Govt. Employment Share Population	10	11	7	5	5	6	7	7	9	8	7	7	7	7	5	5	5	6	5	5	5
Graduation Rate	34	37	35	37	35	33	32	30	25	23	35	16	25	32	33	37	38	36	24	27	30
Personal Income Per Capita	20	20	17	17	19	19	18	17	18	20	21	21	26	30	35	37	39	40	39	36	35
Poverty Rate	27	33	31	26	18	18	25	17	21	17	30	26	35	27	36	23	29	32	32	29	K.A.
Real GDP per capita	25	21	19	22	23	23	24	23	24	29	28	29	34	37	39	38	40	42	42	40	K.A.
S&P Credit Rating	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	K.A.	1	1	10	10	17	20	43	46	45	45	45	45
State Govt. Spending/GDP	24	20	21	37	38	32	30	28	33	33	31	33	36	35	37	36	37	40	40	38	K.A.
State & local tax burden	26	31	28	25	30	30	30	31	31	28	28	29	28	29	29	26	29	37	33	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.	24
Unemployment Rate	48	42	35	28	21	18	20	21	22	38	41	47	48	47	50	50	50	50	49	45	43
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.	23	31	37	K.A.
Voter Turnout	20	20	20	22	22	18	18	14	14	20	20	12	12	8	8	7	7	22	22	10	10
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.	40	33	41	37	36

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Massachusetts 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. Michigan has had spurts of divided government and a Republican trifecta. The state had a Republican trifecta during three separate periods (1995-1996, 1999-2002, and 2011-2013) and divided government during three separate periods (1992-1994, 1997-1998, and 2003-2010). The state’s highest SQLI ranking came in 1999 under a Republican trifecta (19th). Beginning in 2007, Michigan has slipped into the bottom-10 of the SQLI ranking and has remained there since. Michigan saw its most precipitous drop in the SQLI ranking between 2001 and 2002 and again between 2003 and 2004, under both a Republican trifecta and divided government, respectively. The state had not had a Democratic trifecta.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 26.88
• SQLI average with divided government: 33.31

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

Zusätzliche Informationen

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs