Gastonia, NC is a small city located in the Charlotte metropolitan area of North Carolina. This city has seen an impressive growth rate in recent years and now has a population of over 72,000 residents. Gastonia politics are governed by a mayor-council form of government with the mayor being directly elected by citizens. The city council is composed of six members that are elected from districts within the city and serve staggered four-year terms. The state legislature also maintains representation in Gastonia, as it is part of North Carolina's 105th District. Local politics focus on improving public safety, education, economic development, and recreational activities for residents. Recently the City Council passed a property tax increase to finance road improvements and new infrastructure projects throughout Gastonia. Community engagement is an important aspect of local politics in Gastonia as there are regular town hall meetings held by representatives to discuss current initiatives and any relevant issues facing the city’s residents.
The political climate in Gastonia, NC is somewhat conservative.
Gaston County, NC is strongly conservative. In Gaston County, NC 35.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Gaston county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.2% to 35.5%.
Gaston county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gastonia, NC is somewhat conservative.
Gaston County, North Carolina is strongly conservative.
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia Metro Area is leaning liberal.
North Carolina is leaning conservative.
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.
Gastonia, North Carolina: R R R R R R
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 Gastonia, NC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,273 contributions totaling $171,579 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $75 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,701 contributions totaling $792,441 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $466 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)