The politics of New Portland, Maine are largely focused on issues that affect the local community. Many residents are passionate about topics such as taxes, education, public safety, and environmental protection. Local political candidates must address these important issues in order to be successful in elections. In recent years, citizens have become increasingly engaged on both sides of the political spectrum, making for a lively debate regarding the best path forward for New Portland. Political organizations such as the New Portland Democratic Town Committee and the New Portland Republican Town Committee hold regular meetings and events to encourage dialogue among their members. Additionally, news outlets like The Forecaster provide coverage on local politics in order to keep citizens informed and engaged. Overall, politics in New Portland is an ever-evolving landscape that reflects the values of its people.
The political climate in New Portland, ME is moderately conservative.
Somerset County, ME is moderately conservative. In Somerset County, ME 37.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 60.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Somerset county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 60.4% to 37.0%.
Somerset county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
New Portland, ME is moderately conservative.
Somerset County, Maine is moderately conservative.
Maine is somewhat 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.
New Portland, Maine: d d d d 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 New Portland, ME
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1 contributions totaling $40 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $40 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 0 contributions totaling $0 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)