The Madison, WI Metro Area is a vibrant political hub at the heart of Wisconsin. With over 650,000 people in the greater Madison area, politics play an important role in the community. The city of Madison itself has a population of over 260,000 people and is home to many state level offices and organizations such as the Wisconsin State Legislature which convenes annually in Madison. The area is also home to an array of local politicians who often provide leadership on many issues affecting the region. In recent years, there have been many initiatives around transportation, infrastructure, education reform and economic development which all involve local political candidates. Local elections are held regularly and residents are encouraged to become involved in their local government by voting for candidates who will work towards their collective visions for the community.
The political climate in Madison Metro Area is very liberal.
In Madison Metro Area 71.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 27.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Madison metro area remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 71.1% to 27.2%.
The Madison metro area voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Madison Metro Area is very liberal.
Wisconsin 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.
Madison, Wisconsin: 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Madison Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 118,543 contributions totaling $13,777,815 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $116 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 9,925 contributions totaling $3,285,421 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $331 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)