A scorecard engineered by President Ronald Reagan’s economic advisor ranks Colorado Gov. Jared Polis among the best in the country for policy, leadership and public safety.

The 2020 Laffer-ALEC Report on Economic Freedom is the American Legislative Exchange Council’s first governors ranking. It scores governors on policy performance, result and leadership before and after the start of COVID-19.

The conservative non-profit’s report ranked Polis, a Democrat from Boulder, ninth in the nation.

Polis is the only Democrat in the report’s top 10. Polis has a history with the conservative economist Art Laffer, having once interned for him and hosting him at the Colorado Capitol in 2019.

“At such a critical decision point, voters need fact-based, nonpartisan data to judge their leaders and hold them accountable,” Laffer said. “The objective data voters need is all about economics, and it’s all found in this ranking.”

Also in the top 10 are:

• 1. Greg Abbott – a Republican from Texas
• 2. Brian Kemp – a Republican from Georgia
• 3. Kristi Noem – a Republican from South Dakota
• 4. Pete Ricketts – a Republican from Nebraska
• 5. Gary Herbert – a Republican from Utah
• 6. Ron DeSantis – a Republican from Florida
• 7. Bill Lee – a Republican from Tennessee
• 8. Eric Holcomb – a Republican from Indiana
• 10. Chris Sununu – a Republican from New Hampshire

Of the bottom 10 governors, eight are Democrats, with the exceptions being West Virginia’s Jim Justice at 47th place and Alaska’s Mike Dunleavy at 49th place.

ALEC was founded in 1973. It is made up of state legislators, conservative philanthropies, right-leaning advocacy groups and corporate interests that jointly draft and disseminate “model” bills that tend to advance pro-business priorities.

“The 50 governors took very different approaches to policymaking,” said Jonathan Williams, ALEC chief economist. “Some reduced taxes, regulations and enhanced their economic competitiveness, while others took a very different policy strategy. That’s why it is important to use reports like this one to compare and contrast the widely different results.”

The full report is available at alec.org.