(iPoster) The Effect of Legislative and Gubernatorial Partisanship on State Policy Liberalism

• In Event: Poster Session: New Perspectives in Political Science Research: Scholarship by Vanderbilt REU Students

Abstract

State-level policy liberalism — the extent to which liberal policies, such as those related to civil rights or welfare, are adopted at the state level — has fluctuated over time. Understanding these shifts is crucial, as state-level policy often has a more immediate impact on individuals' daily lives than federal policy does. Yet, the factors driving these shifts remain underexplored. While some scholars have pointed to socioeconomic factors like public opinion or wealth inequality, the role of state government partisanship has received less attention. This gap is worth exploring, especially as partisanship and ideology have become increasingly intertwined in today’s politics. Thus, I hypothesize that states governed by Democrats — who are typically more aligned with liberal ideology — will exhibit higher levels of policy liberalism than those led by Republicans, who tend to favor more conservative approaches. To examine this relationship, I use data from the Correlates of State Policy Project (CSPP), employing descriptive statistics, a t-test, and regression analyses to assess the impact of partisan control on policy liberalism. If the results support the hypothesis that Democratic-led states produce greater policy liberalism than Republican-led ones, it will have important implications for understanding how governance shapes public policy and predicts socioeconomic outcomes — helping both political scientists anticipate trends and policymakers make informed decisions.

Author

• Elizabeth Jane Callecod, Indiana State University