Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is situated along the St. Marys River in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Home to a population of 14,753 people, Sault Ste. Marie is a small but vibrant community with a rich political history. The city’s government is led by Mayor Paul Damato and 10 council members who were elected in 2019 and will serve until 2023. There are also two local representatives from Michigan in the United States House of Representatives – Jack Bergman and Dan Kildee. Additionally, Senator Gary Peters represents the state of Michigan at the Senate level. Sault Ste. Marie has historically been represented by both Democratic and Republican legislators at various levels of government, providing a balance between conservative and progressive viewpoints on politics that helps shape local policies for the entire community’s benefit.
The political climate in Sault Ste. Marie, MI is somewhat conservative.
Chippewa County, MI is moderately conservative. In Chippewa County, MI 37.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 60.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Chippewa county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 60.4% to 37.6%.
Chippewa county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Sault Ste. Marie, MI is somewhat conservative.
Chippewa County, Michigan is moderately conservative.
Sault Ste. Marie Metro Area is moderately conservative.
Michigan 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.
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan: 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 Sault Ste. Marie, MI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 458 contributions totaling $148,925 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $325 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 61 contributions totaling $16,225 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $266 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)