Sunderland, MA is a small town in Western Massachusetts with a population of around 1,800 people. It is an idyllic place known for its beautiful landscape and close-knit community. Politically, the town leans left with most candidates from the Democratic Party being elected to positions in local and state government. For local political races, the town usually has one or two campaigns that are focused on issues such as education, health care, and sustainability. The races are often nonpartisan and emphasize coalition building among party members in order to find common ground on these issues. Other topics that have been important in recent years include economic development, public safety, and environmental protection. Ultimately, Sunderland is a very politically engaged community that values collaboration between its citizens and their elected officials in order to ensure that the best possible outcomes are achieved for all.
The political climate in Sunderland, MA is moderately liberal.
Franklin County, MA is very liberal. In Franklin County, MA 70.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 26.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Franklin county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 70.7% to 26.4%.
Franklin county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Sunderland, MA is moderately liberal.
Franklin County, Massachusetts is very liberal.
Massachusetts is very 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.
Sunderland, Massachusetts: 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 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 Sunderland, MA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 303 contributions totaling $38,973 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $129 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 48 contributions totaling $3,878 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)