Merced, California is a city located in the Central Valley of California. It is a rapidly developing city with an estimated population of over 81,000 people. Merced’s politics are centered around local government and local elections, which take place every two years. Local offices such as Mayor, City Council Members and members of the Board of Supervisors are all elected by the citizens of Merced. In addition to the local election process, Merced also hosts state and federal elections on a regular basis. The most recent election saw a number of candidates competing for several positions on various levels of government in Merced. These candidates included representatives from both major political parties as well as independent candidates. Overall, the political scene in Merced is filled with diversity and a desire to see positive change in the community.
The political climate in Merced, CA is somewhat liberal.
Merced County, CA is somewhat liberal. In Merced County, CA 53.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Merced county remained strongly Democratic, 53.8% to 43.3%.
Merced county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Merced, CA is somewhat liberal.
Merced County, California is somewhat liberal.
Merced 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.
Merced, 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 Merced, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,656 contributions totaling $153,151 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $58 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 752 contributions totaling $176,734 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $235 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)