Santa Cruz County in California is a vibrant and diverse community with a long and rich history of political activism. Home to several major universities, state parks, and beaches, Santa Cruz has been a stronghold for progressive politics on the West Coast. Over the years, various local political candidates have represented the people of Santa Cruz County in state and federal elections. These candidates have championed progressive causes such as environmental protection, workers’ rights, social justice reforms, and much more. While population data is not provided here, Santa Cruz has emerged as a key battleground for national elections in recent cycles due to its large block of independent voters and committed progressives. As we approach 2020 and beyond, it will be interesting to see how local elections shape up in the county.
The political climate in Santa Cruz County, CA is very liberal.
In Santa Cruz County, CA 78.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 18.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Santa Cruz county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 78.4% to 18.5%.
Santa Cruz county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Santa Cruz County, CA is very liberal.
Santa Cruz-Watsonville Metro Area is very liberal.
California is strongly 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.
Santa Cruz, California: 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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 Santa Cruz County, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 77,287 contributions totaling $7,867,183 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $102 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,810 contributions totaling $723,713 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $190 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)