The politics of Aptos, CA are primarily centered around local issues and initiatives that affect the community. The city is served by a mayor and four council members, elected at-large to serve four-year terms. Additionally, there are various county and school board positions held by Aptos residents. In recent years, the political focus has shifted towards creating better parks and recreational facilities, improving downtown infrastructure and promoting public safety. Residents of Aptos have also become more actively engaged in their local elections as they have an increased awareness of the key issues facing the city. As such, many candidates for local office have risen to prominence with their stances on these important issues. It is clear that the people of Aptos are passionate about making sure their city remains a safe, vibrant place with plenty of opportunities for its citizens to live a fulfilling life.
The political climate in Aptos, CA is moderately liberal.
Santa Cruz County, CA is very liberal. In Santa Cruz County, CA 78.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 18.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Santa Cruz county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 78.4% to 18.5%.
Santa Cruz county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Aptos, CA is moderately liberal.
Santa Cruz County, California is very liberal.
Santa Cruz-Watsonville Metro Area is very liberal.
California is strongly 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.
Aptos, California: 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 Aptos, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 6,307 contributions totaling $600,778 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $95 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 365 contributions totaling $113,397 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $311 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)