Salt Lake County, UT is a major political hub in Utah. It is home to the state capital of Salt Lake City and many other communities that are highly engaged in local politics. In addition to the statewide offices held by members of both major parties, Salt Lake County also has numerous local elections that involve school board members, mayors, city council members, and more. Local election campaigns focus on issues such as education funding, economic development, transportation infrastructure, and public safety. Voter turnout in Salt Lake County is consistently high due to the population’s interest in local politics. Community involvement through volunteering for campaigns or working at polling locations is a great way for residents of Salt Lake County to become involved and make an impact on local government decisions.
The political climate in Salt Lake County, UT is somewhat liberal.
In Salt Lake County, UT 53.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 4.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Salt Lake county remained strongly Democratic, 53.0% to 42.1%.
Salt Lake county voted Democratic in 2020, 2016 and 2008, and voted Republican in 2012, 2004 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Salt Lake County, UT is somewhat liberal.
Salt Lake City Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Utah is moderately 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.
Salt Lake, Utah: R R d R 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 Salt Lake County, UT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 51,135 contributions totaling $8,456,671 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $165 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 9,541 contributions totaling $4,324,679 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $453 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)