Berkeley County, South Carolina is a historically conservative area that has recently become more red-leaning. The county's local political scene is dominated by Republican candidates, with Democrats also making appearances in recent elections. The most recent election saw a Republican majority elected to the county's board of supervisors, and its representatives in the state legislature are mostly conservative Republicans. In addition to the Republican Party's presence, there are several independent and third-party candidates running for office in Berkeley County. These alternative candidates often focus on environmental issues and social justice initiatives that are not covered by the two major parties. Political dialogue in Berkeley County is often focused on economic policy, with both sides of the aisle working to create an environment that encourages business growth while preserving local jobs for citizens.
The political climate in Berkeley County, SC is somewhat conservative.
In Berkeley County, SC 43.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 54.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Berkeley county remained strongly Republican, 54.9% to 43.3%.
Berkeley county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Berkeley County, SC is somewhat conservative.
Charleston-North Charleston Metro Area is leaning liberal.
South Carolina is somewhat conservative.
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.
Berkeley, South Carolina: R R R R R R
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 Berkeley County, SC
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,873 contributions totaling $164,550 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $88 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,113 contributions totaling $305,250 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $274 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)