State College, PA is a college town located in the center of Pennsylvania. It has a thriving local political scene that is largely driven by students and faculty at Penn State University, the largest employer in the area. There are several elected positions for local government covering issues such as public transportation, zoning regulations, and utilities. Local elections are held every four years and usually feature both long-time residents and newcomers to town vying for office. Issues pertinent to the area’s youth population often make headlines during election time, including discussions about campus safety and parking regulations. Beyond the regular elections, community members can get involved through advocacy groups or through meetings with their representatives and voicing their concerns to influence policy-making decisions.
The political climate in State College, PA is somewhat liberal.
Centre County, PA is leaning liberal. In Centre County, PA 51.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Centre county remained Democratic, 51.4% to 46.7%.
Centre county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
State College, PA is somewhat liberal.
Centre County, Pennsylvania is leaning liberal.
State College 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.
State College, Pennsylvania: 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 State College, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 10,420 contributions totaling $955,078 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $92 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 868 contributions totaling $448,847 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $517 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)