Lake Placid, NY is a small and picturesque mountain town in the Adirondack Mountains with a rich history. Located in Essex County, it is a popular destination for tourists due to the natural beauty of its location and many attractions, including the Olympic Center. In terms of politics, Lake Placid has been an historically “purple” area where both Republican and Democratic candidates have been successful in local elections. In recent years, local political activity has seen an uptick due to the national spotlight that many candidates running for office have placed on the area as part of their campaigns. Despite this growing attention, Lake Placid remains committed to its values of respect towards one another and honesty when it comes to governing its citizens. The current town board consists of three members representing both major parties who are dedicated to ensuring that everyone's voice is heard in the decision-making process. With this commitment to democratic values, Lake Placid provides an example for other small towns throughout the country on how to remain true to their own ideals while still engaging in politics at a larger level.
The political climate in Lake Placid, NY is leaning liberal.
Essex County, NY is leaning liberal. In Essex County, NY 51.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Essex county flipped moderately Democratic, 51.6% to 46.6%.
Essex county flipped Democratic in the most recent Presidential election (2000, 2004 and 2016 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Lake Placid, NY is leaning liberal.
Essex County, New York is leaning 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.
Lake Placid, New York: r r D D r 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 Lake Placid, NY
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 541 contributions totaling $90,657 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $168 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 135 contributions totaling $30,582 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $227 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)