Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Nebraska

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 Nebraska 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

Nebraska Governor

From 1992 to 2013, Nebraska had Democratic governors in office for the first seven years while there were Republican governors in office for the last 15 years.

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.

Nebraska Senate

With a nonpartisan legislature, Nebraska’s Senate was controlled neither by the Democrats nor the Republicans during this 22-year study period.

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

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Nebraska, the Nebraska Legislature from 1992 to 2013.

Partisan control changes

There was one partisan control change in Nebraska during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Nebraska less than the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Nebraska’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 7.19, which puts it at 4 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The years that Nebraska had the highest ranking were 2011 and 2012, in which it ranked 2nd.
• The years that Nebraska had the lowest ranking were 1999 and 2002, in which it ranked 14th.
• The index type that Nebraska had the highest ranking in was CAFR Debt/GDP, in which it ranked 1st.
• The index type that Nebraska had the lowest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 44th.

Nebraska 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	12	2	3
America's Health Rankings	5	9	10	11	15	14	15	17	15	13	15	15	12	13	10	12	9	16	12	18	15
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	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	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	27	19	22	28	28	22	20	27
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	20	22	11	13	10	6
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	7	17	10	9	9	8	6
Govt. Employment Share Population	43	43	44	44	44	44	42	43	42	42	42	43	42	43	42	43	43	44	44	45	43
Graduation Rate	7	3	4	4	6	7	6	4	3	1	4	6	3	5	5	1	1	2	5	7	10
Personal Income Per Capita	24	29	26	25	21	25	25	24	25	21	23	19	21	21	24	21	21	21	21	19	20
Poverty Rate	11	11	6	9	13	16	29	23	13	17	22	14	10	10	18	17	16	8	6	6	N/A
Real GDP per capita	17	19	17	18	18	20	22	24	21	21	24	18	21	21	21	19	21	19	19	19	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	12	12	12	13	1
State Govt. Spending/GDP	8	8	7	8	8	10	9	12	13	13	14	10	8	7	8	5	5	7	4	2	N/A
State & local tax burden	31	32	32	31	29	32	28	24	29	35	35	41	38	36	33	33	28	30	30	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	17
Unemployment Rate	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	4	8	2	3	4	7	12	4	5	4	2	2	2	2
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	4	4	3	N/A
Voter Turnout	14	12	12	18	18	13	13	21	21	30	30	24	24	15	15	27	27	42	42	24	24
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	20	24	10	8	6

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Nebraska 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. Because Nebraska has a nonpartisan legislature, the state did not have any government trifectas during the years studied. From 1992-1998 it had a Democratic governor and from 1999-2013 it had a Republican governor. Nebraska finished high in SQLI rankings, finishing in the top-10 during both Democratic and Republican governorships. It dipped out of the top-10 from 1999-2004, but returned in 2005. Its highest ranking, finishing 2nd, occurred from 2011-2012.

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs