Taft, California is a small city in the Central Valley region of California. It has a population of around 9,000 people and is known for its farming industry and oil production. The local politics in Taft are largely focused on maintaining economic stability and planning for the city's future growth. The city council consists of members from various backgrounds who work together to pass legislation that is beneficial for the citizens of Taft. The current mayor is Ray Avila and he has been active in promoting economic development throughout the city. In addition, several local non-profit organizations work to provide resources to residents that support education, health care, public safety, housing and other social services. There are also some grassroots political initiatives taking place in the area focusing on furthering environmental protection and other causes important to Taft's citizens.
The political climate in Taft, CA is leaning conservative.
Kern County, CA is somewhat conservative. In Kern County, CA 43.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kern county remained strongly Republican, 53.9% to 43.7%.
Kern county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Taft, CA is leaning conservative.
Kern County, California is somewhat conservative.
Bakersfield Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
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.
Taft, California: R R R R R R
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 Taft, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 160 contributions totaling $5,530 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $35 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 139 contributions totaling $71,405 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $514 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)