North Plainfield, NJ is a small town nestled in Somerset County. It has many unique governmental institutions, which provide various services for its citizens. These include the North Plainfield Board of Education, which oversees the public education system and makes decisions related to local curriculum; the Town Council, which is responsible for setting policy and making decisions that relate to the management of the town; and the Mayor’s Office, which acts as a liaison between the government and local residents. Local politics in North Plainfield are largely centered around issues like education reform, economic development, public safety initiatives, infrastructure improvements, and other issues that affect the livelihood of its citizens. The Town Council holds regular meetings where members debate on policy proposals before deciding on their implementation. This ensures that all constituents have a say in how their town is governed. As such, political engagement amongst citizens remains high in North Plainfield due to its strong emphasis on democratic processes.
The political climate in North Plainfield, NJ is moderately liberal.
Somerset County, NJ is moderately liberal. In Somerset County, NJ 59.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 38.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Somerset county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 59.5% to 38.5%.
Somerset county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
North Plainfield, NJ is moderately liberal.
Somerset County, New Jersey is moderately liberal.
New York-Newark-Jersey City Metro Area is strongly liberal.
New Jersey 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.
North Plainfield, New Jersey: 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 North Plainfield, NJ
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,343 contributions totaling $306,338 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $92 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 340 contributions totaling $222,850 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $655 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)