These data are the centerpiece of my dissertation and my research agenda regarding interbranch relations at the state level.
Gubernatorial Success =
# of Bills Passed/
# of Legislative Items Proposed in the State of the State
I collected the State of the State addresses from Pew Charitable Trust and governors’ personal websites.[1] Because computer software cannot parse a speech into legislative proposals, and given that the syntax and style of every governor is distinct, I hand-coded the speeches.[2] I read each speech and tracked the key policy initiatives. I then compared those initiatives to the bills that the state legislature passed that year. I used Lexis Nexis State Capital, as well as state legislative websites, and local newspapers, to uncover what proposals ultimately became law. For my purposes, “success” is defined by a bill passing in the same legislative session as the governor proposed the policy. The dataset currently contains 464 data points from 120 governors dating from 2003 - 2012.
Please e-mail me regarding the use of these data.
[1] Missing speeches were provided by Jason Windett, St. Louis University.
[2] Personal conversation with Gary King, January 2015.