One Party States
Critical Analysis
According to the chart above, what percent of U.S. states currently have senators from different parties?
Describe one trend in the chart above over the past 40 years.
What best explains that trend?
Identify the party affiliation of the U.S. Senators from your state.
Bipartisanship is agreement or cooperation between two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies. Today’s visuals come from a FiveThirtyEight story: Why Bipartisanship in the Senate is Dying. Explain how the trend illustrated in the charts leads to a death of bipartisanship?
According to the chart above*, 1980 had the highest percent of U.S. states with senators from different parties. Explain how that high level of split party delegations impacted the legislation and policy coming out of Washington.
Explain why the 17th Amendment led to such an increase in states with senators from both parties.
The Southeastern region of the U.S. (where i live) was almost 100% Democratic in 1910. It was called the “Solid South” (meaning, solidly Democratic) Today the Southeast is 83% republican. Based on the chart below* describe how you region of the U.S. has changed over the past century.
Based on the charts below*, how does geography impact the trend towards one party states?
As bipartisan states and bipartisanship in the Senate have waned, the number of laws passed by the Congress has decreased. Why do you think that is?
Learning Extension
Check out all the visuals in this FiveThirtyEight story on the end of the two party states.
Action Extension
The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC-based think tank that actively fosters bipartisanship by combining the best ideas from both parties to promote health, security, and opportunity for all Americans. Let the Senators from your state know what you think about bipartisanship.
