Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Alaska

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 Alaska 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

Alaska Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for eight years while there were Republican governors in office for 12 years, including the last 11. Alaska was under a Republican trifecta for the last year 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.

Alaska Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Alaska State Senate for 15 years while the Democrats were the majority for six years. The final three years of the study depicted a shift in the Alaska senate with the first two years being Democrat and the final year (2013) becoming a Republican trifecta.

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

Alaska House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Alaska State House of Representatives for 19 years while the Democrats were the majority for three years. The Alaska State House is one of nine state Houses that was Republican for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. In the final year of the study (2013), the Alaska House became a Republican trifecta.

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

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Alaska’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 25.76, which puts it at 26th in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Alaska had the highest ranking was 2002, in which it ranked 16th.
• The year that Alaska had the lowest ranking was 2011, in which it ranked 37th.
• The index type that Alaska had the highest ranking in was State and local tax burden, in which it ranked 1st.
• The index types that Alaska had the lowest ranking in were CNBC Top States for Business and State government spending to GDP, in which it ranked 50th.

Alaska 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	14	18	6
America's Health Rankings	30	29	29	27	25	23	26	26	26	22	24	33	26	30	33	32	32	34	30	29	28
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	50	50	50	50	50	49	50	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	46	32	31	31	25	21	31	31
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	50	50	50	50	49	47
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	47	47	48	42	42	42	37
Govt. Employment Share Population	50	50	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	49	48	49	49	49
Graduation Rate	38	32	29	31	34	35	38	36	37	35	37	38	40	42	41	40	45	43	40	42	40
Personal Income Per Capita	7	7	6	6	9	9	15	15	15	14	12	14	16	14	14	14	7	8	9	10	10
Poverty Rate	6	3	13	2	5	5	10	7	5	12	7	11	7	13	9	3	4	17	19	14	N/A
Real GDP per capita	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	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	N/A	20	18	17	20	21	12	12	12	13	1
State Govt. Spending/GDP	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	50	49	48	50	49	48	N/A
State & local tax burden	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	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	6
Unemployment Rate	47	46	47	48	49	50	48	49	50	48	48	49	50	49	48	48	40	21	20	21	22
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	49	49	49	N/A
Voter Turnout	10	7	7	6	6	2	2	2	2	3	3	7	7	11	11	8	8	6	6	29	29
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	11	5	4	4	31

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Alaska 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. The only trifecta in Alaska, a Republican trifecta, occurred between the years 2003 and 2006, as well as 2013. The state never had a Democratic trifecta between 1992 and 2012. Between 1995-2002 and 2007-2012, Alaska had divided government. Alaska never placed in the top-10 or bottom-10 in the SQLI ranking. Alaska’s highest SQLI ranking (16th) occurred during divided government, in 2002, while its lowest ranking (37th) occurred in 2011, also under divided government.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 32
• SQLI average with divided government: 23.27

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs