Gaston, OR is a small town in Washington County with a population of nearly 4,000 people. The city is primarily residential but does have some light manufacturing and service industry jobs. In terms of politics, Gaston is known for its conservative leanings and has been a reliably red voting district for many years. It hasn’t ever had a local political candidate that could truly be considered progressive or liberal. In recent years, there have been some conservative candidates that have done quite well in the elections by advocating for lower taxes and more efficient government spending. These politicians tend to support traditional family values as well as smaller government initiatives that keep taxes low while still providing the necessary services their constituents expect. The residents of Gaston are generally satisfied with their local politics as evidenced by the consistent level of support they show each election cycle.
The political climate in Gaston, OR is leaning liberal.
Washington County, OR is very liberal. In Washington County, OR 65.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 30.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Washington county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 65.5% to 30.9%.
Washington county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gaston, OR is leaning liberal.
Washington County, Oregon is very liberal.
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Oregon is moderately 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.
Gaston, Oregon: 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 Gaston, OR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,308 contributions totaling $131,552 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $101 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 188 contributions totaling $15,120 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $80 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)