Nutmeg State Heating Up

The Gubernatorial Race for the State of Connecticut will undoubtedly be a very close race. When the Democratic Incumbent Dannel Malloy won in 2010 it marked the first Democratic Governor since 1986 for the state. Despite winning by a large margin, interestingly enough over his current opponent Tom Foley, this race seems to be very close. There are two main reasons for this, slower economic growth and the great income disparity.

While the state has always been heavily blue, particularly in its urban areas, due to the poor economic state of the state, many people are ready for a change. One reason is for the very slow rate of economic growth since the recession of 2009. In fact, the R-GDP of the state actually shrank $250 million from 2011 to 2012, making it the only state where R-GDP shrank in 2012. As we know from class, the state of the economy is the most important factor in determining the outcome of the election and clearly there are economic concerns in the state.

What this slow economic growth has done is actually made the state with the highest per-capita income, the state with the greatest income disparity. While the NASDAQ and the DOW have done great over the past few years, and the areas of southern Connecticut have maintained or increased their wealth, other areas have not fared as well. Costs have continued to rise as taxes have been increased, and this has squeezed out the middle class. This is because they simply cannot afford the rising costs of living and also because the big companies of the state such as Sikorsky and United Technologies have been moving their operations out of the state. Due to a squeezing out of the middle class, the average “one-percenter” earns 41 times more than the average “99-percenter”, the greatest disparity in the country.

Despite being one of the bluest states in the country, although gubernatorial races tend to be the least party-based, we should expect to see a very close race come Tuesday. If the state does not change its policies soon we will only see an extension of the states great wealth and great poverty continue to move farther apart.