The Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area is an important political center in South Carolina. It is home to numerous state and federal representatives, as well as many local offices. At the local level, city councils from both Charleston and North Charleston work together to ensure effective public services are provided and that the interests of their constituents are represented. The City of North Charleston also has a mayor, elected by its citizens, who works with other council members to make decisions on budgetary matters and other important issues. In addition, legislative branches in both cities meet regularly to discuss new policies or laws that could potentially impact the entire area. With such a vibrant political landscape in place, residents of the Charleston-North Charleston region have access to effective government representation at all levels.
The political climate in Charleston-North Charleston Metro Area is leaning liberal.
In Charleston-North Charleston Metro Area 49.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Charleston-North Charleston metro area flipped slightly Democratic, 49.6% to 48.5%.
The Charleston-North Charleston metro area flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Charleston-North Charleston Metro Area is leaning liberal.
South Carolina is somewhat 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.
Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina: R R r r r 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Charleston-North Charleston Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 25,575 contributions totaling $3,609,982 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $141 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 9,603 contributions totaling $3,291,152 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $343 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)