Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Nevada

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 Nevada 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

Nevada Governor

From 1992 to 2013, there were 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.

Nevada Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Nevada State Senate for the last six years while the Republicans were the majority for the first 16 years.

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

Nevada House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Nevada State House of Representatives for the last 20 years while the Republicans were never the majority. The Nevada State House of Representatives is one of 18 state Houses that were Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013.

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

Partisan control changes

There were three partisan control changes in Nevada during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Nevada slightly less than the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Nevada’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 16.62, which puts it at 15 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Nevada had the highest ranking was 2005, in which it ranked 4th.
• The year that Nevada had the lowest ranking was 2012, in which it ranked 46th.
• The index type that Nevada had the highest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 2nd.
• The index type that Nevada had the lowest ranking in was 24/7 Wall Street’s Best and Worst Governed States, in which it ranked 46th.

Nevada 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	41	46	45
America's Health Rankings	44	42	43	45	42	44	42	42	43	42	40	40	39	40	40	41	42	45	47	39	38
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	10	10	10	9	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	2	2	2	2	6	5	10	12
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	43	45	47	47	45	45
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	26	22	19	31	28	36	31
Govt. Employment Share Population	5	3	3	3	3	2	4	4	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	4	2	1	1	1
Graduation Rate	19	20	36	38	37	38	36	34	32	28	30	32	35	36	37	41	50	50	50	50	50
Personal Income Per Capita	11	10	9	9	8	10	12	12	14	17	18	17	15	12	16	17	24	30	33	34	37
Poverty Rate	29	6	20	20	4	19	21	24	15	3	8	24	19	17	13	15	18	23	38	34	N/A
Real GDP per capita	9	8	8	8	7	6	7	9	10	14	15	14	13	9	10	9	15	22	25	25	N/A
S&P Credit Rating	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	22	21	20	18	17	10	10	12	12	12	28	29
State Govt. Spending/GDP	14	12	9	6	4	4	4	5	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	2	3	N/A
State & local tax burden	3	4	3	5	5	4	3	3	3	5	5	5	6	3	5	4	5	6	9	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	35
Unemployment Rate	25	32	33	35	25	22	26	28	38	42	30	16	12	18	22	33	47	49	50	50	50
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	20	16	14	N/A
Voter Turnout	41	42	42	50	50	39	39	49	49	41	41	43	43	39	39	42	42	32	32	35	35
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	43	46	43	40	39

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Nevada 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. During the study, Nevada had one Democratic trifecta during 1992. The state's SQLI rankings were high for the majority of the study, finishing in the top-10 from 1996-1997 and from 2005-2006. However, Nevada's SQLI ranking declined from then on, finishing 46th in 2012. Both its highest and lowest rankings occurred when the government was divided between Democratic and Republican control.

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

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs