Decatur, GA is a vibrant city with a rich history in politics. Located just outside of Atlanta, Decatur has been deeply involved in city and state-level government since its inception. It is home to the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners as well as the Decatur City Council which together oversee much of the day-to-day operations within the city. They are responsible for making important decisions on a variety of topics such as public safety, housing and transportation. As elections come up, local residents have the opportunity to elect representatives who will best represent their interests in matters related to their community. Candidates for local office come from all parts of Decatur and represent different views on how to make our city better for everyone.
The political climate in Decatur, GA is moderately liberal.
DeKalb County, GA is very liberal. In DeKalb County, GA 83.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 15.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, DeKalb county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 83.1% to 15.7%.
DeKalb county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Decatur, GA is moderately liberal.
DeKalb County, Georgia is very liberal.
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Georgia is leaning liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Decatur, Georgia: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Decatur, GA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 27,363 contributions totaling $3,232,396 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $118 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,138 contributions totaling $279,358 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $245 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)