Cato report: Nine of 10 most free states in US are led by Republicans

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(The Center Square) – Nine of the ten “most free” states in the United States are led by Republicans, according to a new report released by the Cato Institute. By contrast, seven of the ten least free states are run by Democrats.

Cato’s “Freedom in the 50 States” report ranks states and governors for their support and protection of economic and personal freedom across a range of issues.

According to its overall freedom scores by state, Arizona ranks first. It’s the only state in Cato's top 10 run by a Democrat. The rest in the top 10 are run by Republicans: Montana, Nevada, Florida, Idaho, Texas, Utah, New Hampshire, Iowa and South Dakota.

When it comes to overall freedom rankings for governors, only one Democrat makes the top ten list: Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, ranking second.

Montana’s governor leads the governor ranking, Republican Greg Gianforte. Other Republican governors joining him in the top 10 are Florida’s Ron DeSantis (3), Texas’ Greg Abbott (4), Iowa’s Kim Reynolds (5), Idaho’s Brad Little (6), Utah’s Spencer Cox (7), Nevada’s Joe Lombardo (8), Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt (9), and Ohio’s Mike DeWine (10).

The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank. The states and governors were graded on 97 policy variables in 10 categories. They include state fiscal burdens (taxes, spending and government debt), state laws related to housing freedom, access and use of technology by consumers and entrepreneurs, state protections for education freedom and parental rights, state protections of Second Amendment rights, state support for law enforcement, as well as free speech, medical freedom and recreational freedom. 

Arizona ranked first, receiving an A grade, with high rankings in the categories of education freedom, firearm freedom, fiscal burden, medical freedom and technology and consumer freedom.

The report highlights Arizona policies supporting “private school choice, open enrollment, charter school laws, and homeschooling regulation” and its “generous universal-eligibility education savings account, enacted on the heels of a successful tuition tax credit program that started in 1997 and remains active today,” as top factors.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is the only governor to receive an A grade in the ranking. His top score comes from his advocacy for housing reform, medical and firearm freedom, the report states. 

In the two largest Republican states, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ranked third and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ranked fourth. DeSantis got high marks for expanding education freedom and maintaining fiscal discipline. Abbott ranked high for economic freedom and Second Amendment protections. 

Polis, the only Democrat governor ranked in the top 10, received high marks for medical freedom, specifically for expanding the state’s medical marijuana program. 

All states ranking in the bottom ten, except for three, are run by Democrats. The 10 worst ranked governors are also all Democrats except for one.

All of the least free states according to Caro's analysis received F grades. The worst ranking state was Hawaii, followed by New York, Massachusetts, Alaska, South Carolina, Alabama, California, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Minnesota. 

Alaska, Alabama and South Carolina are the Republican-led states in the bottom 10. 

All of the bottom ranking governors received F grades. The worst ranked governor, according to Cato, is New York’s Kathy Hochul, followed by Democrats Hawaii’s Josh Green, California’s Gavin Newsom, Rhode Island’s Dan McKee, Washington’s Bob Ferguson, Maryland’s Wes Moore and New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill. 

Alabama’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey, is the outlier, ranking seventh worst, according to the report.

While the Cato report provides an analysis of the top five states and governors, it does not provide a comparable analysis for the bottom ranking states or governors.  A data dashboard shows where each state and governor falls in various categories.