Planada, CA is a rural town located in Merced County. It has experienced considerable political changes over the past few years. The area has been represented in the state assembly by Democratic Assembly Member Adam Gray since 2012 and in the Senate by Democrat Anna Caballero since 2018. There have been significant efforts to increase voter registration in Planada, particularly among residents who are under the age of 18 or who lack permanent residence status. The town also has an active local government with a mayor and five council members representing its citizens. In recent years, the city council has focused on creating jobs and improving infrastructure such as providing access to more reliable internet services for local businesses and residents. Additionally, they have worked to provide additional resources for public safety measures like neighborhood patrols and increased police presence. Overall, Planada's political landscape includes a mix of progressive initiatives combined with a persistent focus on small town values that have characterized this community for many years.
The political climate in Planada, CA is moderately liberal.
Merced County, CA is somewhat liberal. In Merced County, CA 53.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Merced county remained strongly Democratic, 53.8% to 43.3%.
Merced county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Planada, CA is moderately liberal.
Merced County, California is somewhat liberal.
Merced Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
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.
Planada, California: r R 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 if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. 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 Planada, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 44 contributions totaling $1,711 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $39 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 27 contributions totaling $27,778 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,029 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)