Cumberland County, Pennsylvania is located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains and is a part of the South Central Pennsylvania region. The county seat is Carlisle, which is also home to Dickinson College. Cumberland County has a rich history and is home to many important historical sites. Politically, Cumberland County is a heavily Republican-leaning area with local races often decided by just a few votes. In recent years, the Democratic Party has made some gains in local elections but Republicans still dominate most offices in the county. There are several prominent local political organizations working to ensure that their candidates are elected and that they are able to represent their constituents. These organizations include the Cumberland County Republican Committee, Cumberland County Democratic Committee and Carlisle Area Citizens for Progress. All three groups work together to help ensure that all voices in Cumberland County are heard during election cycles and beyond.
The political climate in Cumberland County, PA is somewhat conservative.
In Cumberland County, PA 43.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 54.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Cumberland county remained strongly Republican, 54.3% to 43.8%.
Cumberland county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Cumberland County, PA is somewhat conservative.
Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area is leaning conservative.
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.
Cumberland, Pennsylvania: 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 Cumberland County, PA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 11,106 contributions totaling $1,399,386 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $126 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,115 contributions totaling $1,875,579 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $367 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)