Monterey County located on the Central Coast of California is a vibrant community with diverse political interests. It is home to many national and state parks, as well as some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. On a local level, Monterey County is governed by five elected Supervisors who are responsible for managing public services, setting local ordinances, and approving county budgets. The county also has representation within the California State Assembly from two members that serve in the 30th and 28th districts respectively. There are plenty of opportunities for citizens to learn about politics in Monterey County through debates, forums and campaigns from local candidates running for office as well as initiatives that may appear on ballots throughout the year. Civically engaged citizens can make their voices heard by staying informed about local issues and voting during elections.
The political climate in Monterey County, CA is very liberal.
In Monterey County, CA 69.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 28.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Monterey county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 69.5% to 28.2%.
Monterey county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Monterey County, CA is very liberal.
Salinas 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.
Monterey, 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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 Monterey County, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 36,248 contributions totaling $3,800,659 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $105 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,494 contributions totaling $1,915,628 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $349 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)