California is one of the most politically active states in the US. There are numerous political parties and candidates involved in state politics, from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party and many more. In California, politics is very competitive and vibrant. Every year there are elections for local, state, and federal offices, giving Californians a chance to choose who will represent them. The state legislature is made up of 80 elected members from each of the 40 districts in California, while there are 53 congressional representatives spread out throughout the state. Additionally, there are two US Senators that serve all of California’s citizens. All of these representatives work together to shape policy affecting all areas of life within California’s borders. The political process in California is highly complex and challenging but it allows for a system of democracy that ensures all voices can be heard and respected when it comes time to cast a vote or make a decision about public policies.
The political climate in California is strongly liberal.
In California 63.4% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 34.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, California remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 63.4% to 34.3%.
California voted Democratic in the previous six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
California is strongly 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.
California, California: 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 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 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 California
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,937,379 contributions totaling $972,111,192 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $247 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 487,413 contributions totaling $300,667,299 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $617 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)