How many Republicans and Democrats serve in state legislatures?
The partisan balance in the state legislatures tends to follow national partisan trends. Here are some data from fall 2009. ENPP is “effective number of political parties,” measured using Laakso and Taagepera’s (1979) formula If a legislature is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, ENPP is 2. As the balance shifts toward one party, ENPP moves toward 1. For purposes of calculating this number, I treat “other” as if it were a single party, which will tend to depress the estimate slightly (especially in Nebraska). Click a column name to sort by that variable. Click a state or chamber name to see a list of legislators from that state/chamber.
The partisan balance in the state legislatures tends to follow national partisan trends. Here are some data from February 2011. ENPP is “effective number of political parties,” measured using Laakso and Taagepera’s (1979) formula If a legislature is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, ENPP is 2. As the balance shifts toward one party, ENPP moves toward 1. For purposes of calculating this number, I treat “other” as if it were a single party, which will tend to depress the estimate slightly (especially in Nebraska). Click a column name to sort by that variable. Click a state or chamber name to see a list of legislators from that state/chamber.
