The effects of big government on personal income

Below is a state by state ranking of 2010 per capita income and each state’s political affiliation over the past five presidential elections. Seven of the top ten states voted for “big government” Democrats. Seven of the bottom ten states in per capita income voted for “small government” Republicans. If you’d like to see the rest of the nation share in the bounty of wealth producing powerhouses like Arkansas, Utah, South Carolina, Kentucky, Idaho and Mississippi, by all means vote Republican in November.

STATE	AFFILIATION	2010 per capita income
1.    Connecticut	Democrat	54,877
2.    Massachusetts	Democrat	51,302
3.    New Jersey	Democrat	51,167
4.    Maryland	Democrat	49,070
5.    New York	Democrat	48,450
6.    Wyoming	Republican	44,861
7.    Virginia	Republican	44,246
8.    Alaska	Republican	44,205
9.    New Hampshire	Democrat	43,586
10.  Minnesota	Democrat	42,847
11.  North Dakota	Republican	42,764
12.  California	Swing	42,578
13.  Washington	Democrat	42,570
14.  Colorado	Swing	42,226
15.  Rhode Island	Democrat	42,095
16.  Illinois	Democrat	42,057
17.  Hawaii	Democrat	41,661
18.  Pennsylvania	Democrat	40,599
19.  Vermont	Democrat	40,098
20.  Nebraska	Republican	39,674
21.  Delaware	Democrat	39,664
22.  South Dakota	Republican	39,593
23.  Kansas	Republican	39,005
24.  Florida	Swing	38,222
25.  Wisconsin	Democrat	38,177
26.  Iowa	Democrat	38,084
27.  Texas	Republican	37,706
28.  Louisiana	Republican	37,021
29.  Missouri	Swing	36,965
30.  Nevada	Swing	36,919
31.  Maine	Democrat	36,717
32.  Oregon	Democrat	36,427
33.  Ohio	Swing	36,180
34.  Oklahoma	Republican	35,396
35.  Montana	Republican	35,068
36.  North Carolina	Republican	34,977
37.  Tennessee	Republican	34,955
38.  Georgia	Republican	34,800
39.  Michigan	Democrat	34,691
40.  Arizona	Republican	34,553
41.  Indiana	Republican	34,042
42.  Alabama	Republican	33,516
43.  New Mexico	Democrat	33,368
44.  Arkansas	Swing	32,678
45.  Utah	Republican	32,473
46.  South Carolina	Republican	32,460
47.  Kentucky	Republican	32,376
48.  West Virginia	Swing	31,999
49.  Idaho	Republican	31,986
50.  Mississippi	Republican	31,046

Sources:

State per capita income: Bureau of Business and Economic Research

http://bber.unm.edu/econ/us-pci.htm

Blue/Red State designantions: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states#Red_states

The above classification of red and blue states (as well as purple/battleground states) was determined by compiling the average margins of victory in the five presidential elections between 1992 and 2008. Three of these past elections were won by Democrats, Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and Barack Obama in 2008, while two were won by Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.