Have State Policy Agendas Become More Nationalized?

Previous work has shown that US voters are focused on national news and national issues and that US elections have become more nationalized. We explore whether state policy agendas have become more nationalized over time. We measure the state agenda by analyzing governors’ State of the State addresses from 1960 to 2016. Our analysis shows that state agendas have become more similar to each other over time and that state agendas are more similar to the national agenda (as laid out in the State of the Union address). The nationalization of US politics is not only affecting voters and elections; it is also seen in the nationalization of the policy agenda.