Atascadero, CA is a small city located in San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast of California. This town has a rich and vibrant political landscape with local and state-wide officials representing the city's residents throughout the region. At the municipal level, Atascadero elects five members to its City Council, who are responsible for leading and governing the city. The city also elects representatives to serve on various boards, including the Planning Commission and Parks & Recreation Commission. These representatives have an important role in shaping policy decisions that impact Atascadero citizens. In addition to local officials, state-level representatives from Assembly District 35 serve in the California Legislature for Atascadero constituents. At the national level, residents of this diverse community are represented by Congressional District 24’s member of Congress. With such political representation from both sides of the aisle, it is clear that Atascadero is a politically engaged area where interests are respected and pursued.
The political climate in Atascadero, CA is leaning liberal.
San Luis Obispo County, CA is somewhat liberal. In San Luis Obispo County, CA 55.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, San Luis Obispo county remained strongly Democratic, 55.3% to 42.2%.
San Luis Obispo county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Atascadero, CA is leaning liberal.
San Luis Obispo County, California is somewhat liberal.
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles 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.
Atascadero, 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 Atascadero, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 6,879 contributions totaling $368,430 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $54 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,252 contributions totaling $201,592 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $161 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)