ARLINGTON, VA – The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has released the first ever governors ranking, the 2020 Laffer-ALEC Report on Economic Freedom. The scorecard ranks America’s 50 governors based on policy performance and result, as well as executive leadership before and after the start of the COVID-19 health crisis.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert receives 5 stars and ranks among the top 5 governors overall. Low spending and taxes, and a record of fiscal restraint has enabled Utah to bring state debt to the ninth-best of any state.
“State executives implement policy and respond to crisis in dramatically different ways,” said Reagan Economist Dr. Arthur B. Laffer. “At such a critical decision point, voters need fact-based, nonpartisan data to judge their leaders and hold them accountable. The objective data voters need is all about economics, and it’s all found in this ranking.”
Each governor is awarded an overall rank, a results rank, and a policy rank, which is expanded to list the exact criteria used so readers can clearly identify how their state leader stacks up and why. Governors and taxpayers can also use the criteria to determine state policy areas that need improvement, such as tax and spending policy, handling of federal funds from the CARES Act and economic competitiveness data. The 20 variables used to rank the governors equip readers, voters and taxpayers with an objective analysis so they can make an informed opinion.
“No state budget is managed like the other, but that’s because of the diversity in our states’ needs,” said Donna Arduin, former Budget Director for Michigan, New York, Florida, California, Illinois and Alaska. “That is why objective and nonpartisan data is critical to compare state leaders’ performances, built and backed up by empirical criteria. Any person should be able to see how their governor has led across the board without bias or agenda, and this scorecard’s methodology was designed to do just that.”
The top ten and bottom ten governors for 2020 are:
Overall Governors Rankings for 2020
Top Ten
1. Greg Abbot, TX
2. Brian Kemp, GA
3. Kristi Noem, SD
4. Pete Ricketts, NE
5. Gary Herbert, UT
6. Ron DeSantis, FL
7. Bill Lee, TN
8. Eric Holcomb, IN
9. Jared Polis, CO
10. Chris Sununu, NH
Bottom Ten
41. Tom Wolf, PA
42. John Bel Edwards, LA
43. Michelle Lujan Grisham, NM
44. J.B. Pritzker, IL
45. David Ige, HI
46. Gretchen Whitmer, MI
47. Jim Justice, WV
48. Phil Murphy, NJ
49. Mike Dunleavy, AK
50. Gina Raimondo, RI
