Ridgewood, NJ is a small town located in Bergen County, with a variety of local politics and issues that affect the community. As a relatively affluent area, the town boasts an active civic engagement which is reflected in the numerous debates at the local level over financial decisions, taxes, and zoning regulations. On top of that, Ridgewood also has an active school board, where residents can engage directly on matters ranging from curriculum to budgeting for new programs. The town's government consists of five council members elected to four-year terms who are responsible for governing the day-to-day operations of the municipality. In addition to their roles on council, these members serve as delegates to higher level organizations such as the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Every two years Ridgewood holds municipal elections which determine who sits on both council and school board. During such occasions citizens have an opportunity to discuss topics like healthcare, infrastructure development and public safety initiatives within their community and voice their opinions via voting for local politics candidates.
The political climate in Ridgewood, NJ is leaning liberal.
Bergen County, NJ is moderately liberal. In Bergen County, NJ 57.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Bergen county remained very strongly Democratic, 57.4% to 41.1%.
Bergen county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ridgewood, NJ is leaning liberal.
Bergen County, New Jersey is moderately liberal.
New York-Newark-Jersey City Metro Area is strongly liberal.
New Jersey is somewhat 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.
Ridgewood, New Jersey: 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 Ridgewood, NJ
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 5,132 contributions totaling $1,188,159 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $232 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 613 contributions totaling $607,025 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $990 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)