Ohio and Pennsylvania are two states with strong political traditions. Ohio has a long history of electing officials from both major political parties and is seen as a bellwether state in presidential elections. Pennsylvania, like Ohio, has elected officials from both major political parties but tends to lean Democratic in recent election cycles. In both states, the major issues that local politicians campaign on include economic development, education reform, health care reform, crime reduction, and environmental protection. State elections are held every two years and municipal elections are held annually. All levels of government have important roles to play in shaping the lives of residents in Ohio and Pennsylvania. With local candidates working hard to represent their constituents’ interests, the politics of these two states remain vibrant and engaged.
The political climate in Ohio, PA is leaning liberal.
Allegheny County, PA is moderately liberal. In Allegheny County, PA 59.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 39.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Allegheny county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 59.4% to 39.0%.
Allegheny county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ohio, PA is leaning liberal.
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania is moderately liberal.
Pittsburgh Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania is leaning 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.
Ohio, Pennsylvania: 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 Ohio, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 9,107 contributions totaling $1,586,502 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $174 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,602 contributions totaling $1,840,562 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $707 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)