New data show the Golden State continues to have the nation’s most polarized Legislature by a measure of the ideological divide between Democrats and Republicans. Researchers have noted that the polarization has not been a real obstacle to lawmaking here, given the Democratic party’s dominance.
Closely following California are Colorado and Arizona.
The research comes from Measuring American Legislatures, a project by Boris Shor of Georgetown University and Nolan McCarty of Princeton University. Shor and McCarty found that Rhode Island, Arkansa,s and Louisiana have the nation’s least polarized legislatures.