Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Iowa

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 Iowa 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

Iowa Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were Democratic governors in office for 12 years while there were Republican governors in office for 10 years, including the last three.

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.

Iowa Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Iowa State Senate for 12 years while the Republicans were the majority for 8 years. During the final seven years, the senate was controlled by the Democrats.

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

Iowa House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Iowa House of Representatives for five years while the Republicans were the majority for 17 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 Iowa, the Iowa State Senate and the Iowa House of Representatives from 1992 to 2013.

Partisan control changes

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

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Iowa’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 8.14, which puts it at 5 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The years that Iowa had the highest ranking were 2009 and 2012, in which it ranked 1st.
• The year that Iowa had the lowest ranking was 1995, in which it ranked 14th.
• The index types that Iowa had the highest ranking in were 24/7 Wall Street’s Best and Worst Governed States and Graduation Rate, in which it ranked 3rd.
• The index type that Iowa had the lowest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 36th.

Iowa 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	3	5	5
America's Health Rankings	7	7	7	9	13	13	13	12	9	10	9	10	10	9	9	10	16	15	15	16	20
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	3	3	3	5	4	7	5	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	22	17	18	17	19	17	22	22
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	11	9	4	6	9	12
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	25	24	22	14	13	10	10
Govt. Employment Share Population	26	26	29	32	34	34	34	35	36	37	33	34	34	35	37	37	37	37	36	35	36
Graduation Rate	4	4	2	3	4	6	4	3	1	5	6	4	6	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	5
Personal Income Per Capita	32	34	31	34	28	31	33	33	33	34	32	35	28	33	32	29	27	24	27	23	22
Poverty Rate	18	11	16	26	10	12	8	6	9	6	12	8	19	22	20	7	8	9	7	7	N/A
Real GDP per capita	32	36	32	31	28	30	33	33	31	34	32	32	24	25	24	20	23	24	23	22	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	10	10	10	10	1	1	1	1	1
State Govt. Spending/GDP	20	28	20	20	20	23	27	27	27	29	23	23	20	21	24	20	22	23	20	21	N/A
State & local tax burden	38	39	38	40	32	28	26	21	23	24	24	24	22	21	20	16	18	24	27	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	13
Unemployment Rate	4	3	4	5	5	5	4	1	8	6	4	8	14	17	15	17	9	6	5	6	5
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	10	11	11	N/A
Voter Turnout	12	15	15	12	12	14	14	8	8	12	12	6	6	14	14	6	6	9	9	5	5
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	26	7	19	16	9

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Iowa 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. Iowa enjoyed a nine-year period in the top-10 of the SQLI ranking between 2003 and 2012, under both divided government and a Democratic trifecta. During the period of the study, Iowa was in the top-10 of the SQLI ranking for twelve out of twenty years. Iowa claimed the top spot in the SQLI ranking twice, once in 2009 and again in 2012. The state’s lowest SQLI ranking came in 1995 (14th) under divided government.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 3.50
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 12.00
• SQLI average with divided government: 8.87

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs