Berkeley, California is home to a vibrant and diverse political environment that actively engages its residents. With a population of around 125,000 people, the city is passionate about promoting social justice and creating positive change. Berkeley is led by the city council which consists of 8 elected members who represent their respective districts throughout the city. Berkeley also has an active citizens’ participation in local politics through initiatives such as ballot measures and referendums. The city’s commitment to advancing social equity ensures that all voices from across the political spectrum are heard and that policy makers are held accountable for their actions. Furthermore, Berkeley is home to several universities including UC Berkeley, allowing for students and faculty to participate in local elections and advocate for their chosen candidates. This helps create an intellectually stimulating atmosphere where ideas can be thoroughly discussed and debated in order to reach the most socially beneficial outcome.
The political climate in Berkeley, CA is strongly liberal.
Alameda County, CA is very liberal. In Alameda County, CA 79.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 17.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Alameda county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 79.8% to 17.6%.
Alameda county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Berkeley, CA is strongly liberal.
Alameda County, California is very liberal.
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley Metro Area is very 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.
Berkeley, California: 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 Berkeley, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 167,499 contributions totaling $26,942,141 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $161 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,128 contributions totaling $1,148,596 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $278 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)