Introduction

Demos Key Findings

Power Map

Summary Table

Data Tool

Power Scorecard

Mapping Conditions to Build Economic and Political Power

A framework measuring economic, democratic and civic power across the 50 states.

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Introduction

Dēmos Power Scorecard

For nearly 25 years, Dēmos’ work has highlighted the connection between economic and political power. Leveraging more than two decades of advancing policy solutions, in-depth research, and narrative strategies, Dēmos’ work sets to build power for Black and brown communities and advance critical work through our partnerships with state-based and grassroots organizations.

Informed by Dēmos Power Agenda, we worked closely with the Camber Collective to design the Power Scorecard, a data framework and tool, to establish a baseline of current economic, civic, and political conditions. The Scorecard assesses critical indicators that influence the agency and control that communities exert in our economy and democracy, testing Dēmos’ core theory that economic and political power are inextricably linked. The Power Scorecard is a call to action for everyone engaged in the work of building strong, vibrant communities and shifting power back into the hands of the people.

Demos Key Findings
Explore the Power Map
Methodology

Analysis

Dēmos Key Findings

The Power Scorecard provides a snapshot of economic, civic, and political conditions by state. Looking at indicators related to economic security, economic mobility and civic and democratic vitality, our findings shed light on how these factors are interconnected and influence building economic and political power for people. The Power Scorecard provides the opportunity to explore and discover how data can inform long-term research and analysis, policy advocacy, and strategy. See below for Dēmos’ key takeaways from this analysis.

Executive Summary

People in every state struggle to exercise economic and political control over their lives.
The Power Scorecard is designed to assess economic, civic, and political conditions across all 50 states, creating a ranking rubric with an optimal score of 120. Our analysis shows that even the highest scoring states achieve less than half the optimal score across economic, civic, and political conditions for power. Poor overall conditions are often most acute in the South and Midwest, with high performing states dispersed across the country. To see this phenomenon, explore the aggregate conditions on the interactive map and chart.

Economic, civic, and political conditions of power generally correlate.
The Power Scorecard tests Dēmos, hypothesis that economic and political power are linked. Our findings provide evidence that economic and political indicators are interconnected, demonstrated through both the highest (top 10) and lowest (bottom 10) performing states achieving similar outcomes for economic, civic, and political conditions. Explore aggregate conditions to see how these conditions correlate.

Economic security is not a guarantee of economic mobility.
While often conflated, or seen interchangeably, the Power Scorecard reaffirms that different conditions shape the outcome for economic security and mobility. We found that weaker conditions for economic security impede conditions for upward economic mobility. Stronger conditions for economic security, however, do not guarantee economic mobility. Explore economic conditions on the interactive map or chart for more.

Strong civic conditions are not enough to drive democratic participation.
The correlation between civic vitality, defined by Dēmos as the ability to live freely and develop connection to one’s place of life, and democratic vitality, the ability to engage in our political process, is weak. Our findings suggest that civic power conditions are not enough on their own to drive democratic participation. The Scorecard shows that many states are failing to ensure that all basic liberties central to vitality are afforded to the people within their states.

Publicly available data limits the ability to perform substantial analysis across race, ethnicity and class. All are necessary for sophisticated, quality analysis.
The Scorecard aggregates a range of data from primarily publicly available sources, yielding powerful insights on the disempowerment of marginalized communities who are predominantly people of color. However, racially disaggregated data are available for only a subset of metrics, allowing only a partial racial equity analysis. Significant data gaps exist for American Indian/Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian populations, and serve as a call to action for better, more inclusive data collection and a greater availability of disaggregated data in the future.

Data Snapshots

Thematic Case Studies

A closer look at impact on specific segments of the population within states: populations of color; and children and families. The insights in these case studies represent analyses of smaller subsets of metrics from the overarching framework. For more details on the metrics included in each case study, please visit the Methodology.

Impact on populations of color

A case study looking at racially disaggregated data for a subset of metrics to provide insights into how conditions vary for different racial and ethnic groups in states, where data are available.

Impact on children and families

A case study zooming into the subset of metrics that affect children and families directly – either currently or for upward mobility and implications for the future.

Power Map

Explore the Data

The Power Scorecard is a tool designed to assess economic, civic, and political conditions across all 50 states. The interactive map below can be toggled to view high-level heat maps of aggregate and category-specific findings. The tool can also be toggled to analyze and download individual state scorecards, as well as compare the findings across three states.

Methodology

For more information

The Power Scorecard was produced by Dēmos in collaboration with the Camber Collective. For more information about the project, comments or questions about the project, or opportunities for collaboration, please email powerscorecard@demos.org.