The politics of the Salt Lake City Metro Area is largely influenced by the state government, with the majority of seats in both the Utah House of Representatives and Senate being held by Republicans. In addition, the Utah Governor's Office and all statewide offices are currently held by Republicans. The city itself is also largely Republican-dominated, with all six city council members elected in 2019 being Republican candidates. Despite being heavily Republican-leaning, there are still a few Democratic representatives in the area that work to ensure a balance of political opinion. Additionally, advocacy groups such as Equality Utah and Alliance for a Better Utah work to promote progressive values on behalf of their constituents. Ultimately, this diversity in political opinions creates an open dialogue and allows for progress within the Salt Lake City Metro Area regardless of party affiliation.
The political climate in Salt Lake City Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
In Salt Lake City Metro Area 51.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 4.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Salt Lake City metro area remained moderately Democratic, 51.6% to 43.6%.
The Salt Lake City metro area voted Democratic in 2020 and 2016, after voting Republican in the previous four elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
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 City, Utah: R R r 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Salt Lake City Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 51,579 contributions totaling $8,474,301 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $164 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 9,868 contributions totaling $4,354,139 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $441 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)