Los Osos is a small community located in San Luis Obispo County, California that has approximately 13,000 citizens. It is a semi-rural town with limited economic opportunities. The politics of Los Osos are largely conservative, with local elections generally being dominated by Republican candidates and issues. The town has traditionally been an enclave of conservatism within the more liberal San Luis Obispo County and its surrounding cities. Local government focuses on maintaining the quality of life for its residents by preserving the small rural atmosphere while providing essential services and infrastructure. Public safety is managed by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office, while other services such as water delivery, wastewater management, road maintenance, and parks and recreation are overseen by the Los Osos Community Services District Board. Political issues in Los Osos center around topics such as economic development and sustainability initiatives as well as protecting its natural resources from overdevelopment. Several environmental protection groups exist to ensure that plans to develop large residential areas or commercial buildings in the area do not negatively affect local wildlife habitat or water sources.
The political climate in Los Osos, 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
Los Osos, 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.
Los Osos, 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 Los Osos, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 9,336 contributions totaling $435,816 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $47 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 549 contributions totaling $92,810 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $169 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)