Penn State Erie (Behrend), PA is a vibrant college community in the heart of northwestern Pennsylvania. The university has a strong focus on civic engagement and political involvement among its student population. Through various student organizations, such as the Student Government Association, students have opportunities to learn about politics and take part in different forms of political action. In addition to this, Penn State Erie (Behrend) encourages faculty, staff, and alumni to stay informed about local political candidates through events and programs like voter registration drives. The school also offers courses in government and public policy that provide students with theoretical frameworks for understanding the current political landscape. This helps them better navigate their own individual journeys to civic participation. With such an emphasis on politics at Penn State Erie (Behrend), it’s not hard to see why so many students are engaged in the democratic process.
The political climate in Penn State Erie (Behrend), PA is leaning conservative.
Erie County, PA is leaning liberal. In Erie County, PA 49.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Erie county flipped narrowly Democratic, 49.7% to 48.6%.
Erie county flipped back to Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, after voting Republican in 2016.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Penn State Erie (Behrend), PA is leaning conservative.
Erie County, Pennsylvania is leaning liberal.
Erie Metro Area is leaning liberal.
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.
Penn State Erie (Behrend), Pennsylvania: d d 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 Penn State Erie (Behrend), PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 198 contributions totaling $24,587 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 62 contributions totaling $11,857 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $191 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)