Santa Maria, CA is a medium-sized city in the Central Coast region of California. It is known for its vibrant agricultural industry and its close proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Politically, Santa Maria has been a consistent Democratic stronghold in recent years. In the 2016 Presidential Election, Santa Maria voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton by a margin of 59% to 34%. The City Council has also been largely Democratic over the past several years with all five current members being Democrats. Local political candidates in Santa Maria tend to run on platforms that focus on issues such as jobs, housing affordability, and environmental protection. They also prioritize community outreach and engagement in order to ensure that all voices are heard when it comes to decision-making processes.
The political climate in Santa Maria, 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
Santa Maria, 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.
Santa Maria, 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 Santa Maria, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,168 contributions totaling $174,198 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $55 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,288 contributions totaling $352,160 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $273 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)