Merced County is located in Central California. Since it is relatively rural, the politics of the county tend to be dominated by conservative values and beliefs. Despite this, Merced County’s Board of Supervisors consists of five members, representing districts 1-5, who come from a variety of political backgrounds. The Board recently passed a resolution to address climate change by investing in renewable energy sources and expanding access to public transportation. This demonstrates their commitment to protecting the environment while also creating jobs. Additionally, Merced County has been focusing on initiatives such as healthcare reform and economic development through tax incentives for businesses that help create jobs for local residents. The local political landscape is still largely composed of Republicans but there are more Democrats running in recent elections than ever before which suggests that the county might become more diverse politically in the years to come.
The political climate in Merced County, CA is somewhat liberal.
In Merced County, CA 53.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Merced county remained strongly Democratic, 53.8% to 43.3%.
Merced county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Merced County, CA is somewhat liberal.
Merced Metro Area is somewhat 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.
Merced, California: 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 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 Merced County, CA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,219 contributions totaling $364,722 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $86 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,764 contributions totaling $641,465 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $364 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)