Goleta, California is a small city located in the Santa Barbara County region. The local political scene in Goleta is complex and varied. There are several different governing bodies that oversee the city, including a mayor and City Council who serve as part of the executive branch. In addition to this, the city has an active citizenry who often become involved in the political process. This includes attending meetings of the City Council, participating in public workshops and forums, and engaging with elected officials on key issues facing the community. Local elections are held every two years and citizens can engage with their chosen candidates by attending campaign events or by volunteering to work on campaigns. Through these means, Goleta residents participate actively in shaping the politics of their city.
The political climate in Goleta, CA is moderately liberal.
Santa Barbara County, CA is very liberal. In Santa Barbara County, CA 64.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 32.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Santa Barbara county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 64.5% to 32.6%.
Santa Barbara county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Goleta, CA is moderately liberal.
Santa Barbara County, California is very liberal.
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 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.
Goleta, 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 Goleta, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 11,631 contributions totaling $748,734 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $64 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,832 contributions totaling $353,624 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $193 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)