Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Indiana

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 Indiana 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

Indiana Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for the first 13 years while there were Republican governors in office for the last nine years. Indiana 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.

Indiana Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Indiana State Senate. The Indiana 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.

Indiana House of Representatives

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

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Indiana’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 22.43, which puts it at 22 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Indiana had the highest ranking was 1995, in which it ranked 12th.
• The year that Indiana had the lowest ranking was 2009, in which it ranked 34th.
• The index type that Indiana had the highest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 8th.
• The index type that Indiana had the lowest ranking in was Voter Turnout, in which it ranked 43rd.

Indiana 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	29	23	23
America's Health Rankings	27	30	31	31	33	34	31	31	33	32	33	35	37	38	39	39	35	35	38	37	41
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	15	33	27	27	22	21	17	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	14	9	13	8	11	16	6	5
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	26	13	15	21	15	14
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	32	27	25	30	29	34	18
Govt. Employment Share Population	11	12	11	8	6	5	6	5	5	5	6	8	9	10	9	9	11	11	10	9	9
Graduation Rate	24	25	27	26	33	32	31	27	29	29	32	33	31	31	29	33	36	32	33	34	33
Personal Income Per Capita	29	27	27	28	30	32	31	32	32	33	33	33	34	38	40	41	41	41	40	40	39
Poverty Rate	19	21	28	9	2	5	10	2	12	12	10	17	25	32	22	29	38	40	35	35	N/A
Real GDP per capita	30	29	29	29	29	31	28	28	29	31	31	30	30	33	35	33	33	32	32	32	N/A
S&P Credit Rating	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	11	11	10	18	17	10	10	1	1	1	1	1
State Govt. Spending/GDP	11	15	13	13	11	13	12	14	15	16	13	12	17	18	15	15	15	16	19	17	N/A
State & local tax burden	14	8	11	10	9	13	9	9	9	10	10	12	13	17	16	17	25	31	28	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	24
Unemployment Rate	14	9	10	10	8	7	4	8	10	18	20	18	28	37	40	30	33	41	37	34	36
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	32	35	34	N/A
Voter Turnout	36	43	43	36	36	34	34	40	40	47	47	44	44	40	40	38	38	43	43	41	41
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	45	42	39	38	42

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Indiana 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. Indiana had a long period of divided government between 1992 and 2004 until the arrival of a Republican trifecta in 2005. Indiana reverted back to divided government between 2007 and 2010 before reverting yet again to a Republican trifecta in 2011. The state has never had a Democratic trifecta. Indiana’s highest SQLI ranking came in 1995 (12th) under divided government, while the state’s lowest SQLI ranking came in 2009 (34th), also under divided government. The state’s greatest leap in the ranking occurred between 1994 and 1995, where Indiana rose seven spots. Its greatest decline in the ranking occurred between 2003 and 2004, where the state dropped seven spots.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: N/A
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 29.25
• SQLI average with divided government: 20.82

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs