Berks County, Pennsylvania is a vibrant area filled with political activity and participating citizens. The county is the home of a number of elected officials and representatives from all levels of government. These include members of Congress, state senators, state representatives, as well as local officials like mayors and council members. The county also has an impressive voter turnout rate in general elections. Politically active citizens are always involved in debates on issues such as taxes, health care, the economy, education and much more. Berks County residents make their voices heard by attending local town hall meetings or writing letters to their representative when needed. This level of civic engagement helps to ensure that the county's political landscape remains vibrant and dynamic.
The political climate in Berks County, PA is leaning conservative.
In Berks County, PA 45.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Berks county remained moderately Republican, 53.2% to 45.1%.
Berks county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Berks County, PA is leaning conservative.
Reading Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania 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.
Berks, Pennsylvania: r r d 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 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 Berks County, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,770 contributions totaling $960,118 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $75 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,324 contributions totaling $1,286,214 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $297 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)