Who Runs the States, Ohio

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 Ohio 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

Ohio Governor

From 1992 to 2013, Ohio had Democratic governors in office for four years while there were Republican governors in office for 18 years, including the last three. Ohio is one of eight states that were run by a Republican governor for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. Ohio 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.

Ohio Senate

During every year from 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Ohio State Senate. The Ohio 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.

Ohio House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Republican Party was the majority in the Ohio State House of Representatives for 17 years while the Democrats were the majority for five 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 Ohio, the Ohio State Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Partisan control changes

There were four partisan control changes in Ohio during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Ohio equal to the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Ohio’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 29.19, which puts it at 30 in the overall SQLI ranking.^[1]

• The year that Ohio had the highest ranking was 1997, in which it ranked 20th.
• The years that Ohio had the lowest ranking were 2008-2010, when it ranked 38th.
• The index type that Ohio had the highest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 10th.
• The index type that Ohio had the lowest ranking in was the Well-being Index, in which it ranked 46th.

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Ohio 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. Ohio had Republican trifectas during most of the years of the study, from 1995-2006 and from 2011-2013. The state's highest SQLI ranking, finishing 20th, occurred in 1997 during a Republican trifecta. Its lowest ranking, finishing 38th, occurred from 2008-2010 during a divided government.

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 Ohio
• Ohio State Senate
• Ohio House of Representatives

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs

Footnotes

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