The city of Crystal Lake, Illinois is a bustling community with many local political issues facing its citizens. It is situated in McHenry County and has been part of the Chicago metropolitan area for decades. Residents take great pride in their local government, which is responsible for maintaining the public safety and quality of life that all citizens enjoy. Issues such as taxes, economic development, infrastructure improvements and environmental concerns are regularly discussed by elected officials and community members alike. The local political climate tends to be quite active as candidates from both major parties make their pitches to voters on how they will best serve the needs of Crystal Lake residents. Candidates debate various topics such as education reform, public healthcare, social justice reform and gun control reforms during election seasons. Overall, Crystal Lake residents are engaged in their local politics and make sure their voices are heard when it comes to deciding who will represent them in city government.
The political climate in Crystal Lake, IL is leaning conservative.
McHenry County, IL is leaning conservative. In McHenry County, IL 47.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 50.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, McHenry county remained narrowly Republican, 50.0% to 47.5%.
McHenry county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Crystal Lake, IL is leaning conservative.
McHenry County, Illinois is leaning conservative.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
Illinois is moderately 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.
Crystal Lake, Illinois: R R d 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 Crystal Lake, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 11,244 contributions totaling $898,661 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $80 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,014 contributions totaling $389,167 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $193 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)