Welcome to our 2003 release of Dubious Democracy. For comparison, please visit our 2001 report and our Monopoly Politics reports from 2002 and 2004.  You can also access state-level analyses of Massachusetts and Texas.

We believe presenting this information effectively is extremely important. There is a disturbing and powerful message in the array of numbers in this report. We hope all visitors to this site will leave it with a better understanding of U.S. House elections -- and why democracy as practiced in elections to the U.S. House of Representatives has indeed become all too "dubious."

The report features state-by-state statistics on U.S. House elections from 1982 to 2002. It has important information on voter participation and on the degree of competition - or lack thereof - in states over this period of time. Below are links to each state and to our national summary pages. Please contact us by email or phone at 301-270-4616 if you have any questions.

Overview

• Introduction of our findings and their significance
• Minority rule:  how many Americans voted for a majority of the House of Representatives?

Data and methodology

Complete data set and methodology, including a template for conducting dubious democracy analyses of state legislative elections and links to official US House results.

Ranking the States

• Turnout
• Representation Index
• Landslide Index
• Average Margin of Victory
• Seats to Votes Distortion
• Democracy Index

State Profiles

USA

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Mississippi
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming