Jul 20, 2017

State legislatures riding a Republican wave

With gridlock in Washington, state legislatures are becoming engines of policy. However, data from an ideological measure by FiscalNote shows us the people drafting those policies haven't gotten more partisan, despite Republicans gaining ground.

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Data: FiscalNote; Chart: Chris Canipe / Axios

This data was compiled by FiscalNote, a provider of government relationship management software, which used an algorithm to calculate an ideological score for roughly 14,000 of more than 18,000 state lawmakers that have served in the U.S. since 2002. The ideological score is determined by comparing an individual lawmaker's votes to their colleagues within their own party. A lawmaker needs to have participated in at least 15 to 20 non-unanimous votes in order to have a calculable score.

What the data shows: Democrats are a bit more liberal (-.81 in 1992, -.90 in 2017) and Republicans are a bit more conservative (-.81 in 1992, -.90 in 2017), but the average hasn't moved a whole lot.

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