In 2010, influenced by the Tea Party and its focus on fiscal issues, 17 states elected Republican governors. And, according to an Examiner.com analysis, every one of those states saw a drop in their unemployment rates since January of 2011. Furthermore, the average drop in the unemployment rate in these states was 1.35%, compared to the national decline of .9%, which means, according to the analysis, that the job market in these Republican states is improving 50% faster than the national rate.
Since January of 2011, here is how much the unemployment rate declined in each of the 17 states that elected Republican governors in 2010, according to the Examiner:
Kansas - 6.9% to 6.1% = a decline of 0.8%Maine - 8.0% to 7.4% = a decline of 0.6%Michigan - 10.9% to 8.5% = a decline of 2.4%New Mexico - 7.7% to 6.7% = a decline of 1.0%Oklahoma - 6.2% to 4.8% = a decline of 1.4%Pennsylvania - 8.0% to 7.4% = a decline of 0.6%Tennessee - 9.5% to 7.9% = a decline of 1.6%Wisconsin - 7.7% to 6.8% = a decline of 0.9%Wyoming - 6.3% to 5.2% = a decline of 1.1%Alabama - 9.3% to 7.4% = a decline of 1.9%Georgia - 10.1% to 8.9% = a decline of 1.2%South Carolina - 10.6% to 9.1% = a decline of 1.5%South Dakota - 5.0% to 4.3% = a decline of 0.7%Florida - 10.9% to 8.6% = a decline of 2.3%Nevada - 13.8% to 11.6% = a decline of 2.2%Iowa - 6.1% to 5.1% = a decline of 1.0%Ohio - 9.0% to 7.3% = a decline of 1.7%
On the other hand, the unemployment rate in states that elected Democrats in 2010 dropped, on average, as much as the national rate decline and, in some states such as New York, the unemployment rate has risen since January of 2011.
This is yet another example of how the so-called “blue state” model is not working.