Athens, OH County is a part of the larger Athens metropolitan area in the state of Ohio. This county has a richly diverse political landscape with many different groups and organizations working to make their voices heard. The county's first citizens were Native Americans who lived in the area for centuries, and today there are numerous interest groups that advocate for their rights and interests. Additionally, local Democratic and Republican parties have offices based in the county where they organize events, fundraise, and educate voters on current issues. Every two years, citizens from Athens County can also participate in primary elections to select representatives at the state level. Finally, hundreds of local government candidates stand for election each year in various races like mayor, city council members, sheriff, auditor, and more. By voting in these elections residents of Athens OH County have an opportunity to help shape the future of their community.
The political climate in Athens County, OH is somewhat liberal.
In Athens County, OH 56.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Athens county remained strongly Democratic, 56.6% to 41.6%.
Athens county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Athens County, OH is somewhat liberal.
Athens Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Ohio is leaning 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.
Athens, Ohio: 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 Athens County, OH
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 5,841 contributions totaling $496,973 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $85 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 384 contributions totaling $67,250 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $175 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)