Amherst, NY is a town located in the western part of New York State. It is home to numerous public parks and recreational areas, as well as several historic sites. The town has a long history of civic engagement and active participation in local government. Amherst has a mayor-council form of government with an elected mayor and seven-member Town Board that serves as the legislative body for the community. The mayor is responsible for appointing members to various boards and commissions that oversee important issues such as education, parks, zoning and planning. In addition to the Town Board, there are also local political candidates who frequently run for office in Amherst. These candidates come from different backgrounds and represent various views on issues facing the community. They work hard to ensure that all voices are heard when it comes to making decisions that affect Amherst’s future.
The political climate in Amherst, NY is leaning liberal.
Erie County, NY is somewhat liberal. In Erie County, NY 56.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Erie county remained strongly Democratic, 56.5% to 41.7%.
Erie county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Amherst, NY is leaning liberal.
Erie County, New York is somewhat liberal.
Buffalo-Cheektowaga Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
New York 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.
Amherst, New York: 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 Amherst, NY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,881 contributions totaling $1,992,079 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $155 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,377 contributions totaling $1,321,577 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $556 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)