Isla Vista, CA is a small, unincorporated town located in Santa Barbara County. It has a strong student population, with the majority of its residents attending either University of California, Santa Barbara or Santa Barbara City College. The local politics in Isla Vista are focused largely around issues affecting student life and welfare. Local government decisions involve addressing student housing concerns, improving public transportation options, and providing more recreational activities for students to participate in. Local political candidates focus on representing student interests in order to ensure that their voices are heard in the decision-making process. They strive to increase access to resources and opportunities for the community’s youth while also promoting safety within the town. Additionally, they aim to create an environment where all members of the community feel supported and respected regardless of their background or identity.
The political climate in Isla Vista, CA is strongly liberal.
Santa Barbara County, CA is very liberal. In Santa Barbara County, CA 64.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 32.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Santa Barbara county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 64.5% to 32.6%.
Santa Barbara county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Isla Vista, CA is strongly liberal.
Santa Barbara County, California is very liberal.
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 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.
Isla Vista, 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 Isla Vista, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 8,066 contributions totaling $416,100 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $52 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 993 contributions totaling $156,150 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $157 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)