The Rochester, NY Metro Area is home to a diverse population of over one million people who come from various backgrounds and cultures. It is an important hub of political activity in the state and is the base for many local civic leaders and organizations. The city is governed by a mayor-council form of government, with the mayor being elected directly by voters. In addition to the mayor, there are nine district council members who are also elected by the citizens. Additionally, Washington County has its own Board of Supervisors which works in conjunction with county executive leadership to ensure that local interests are represented in decision making processes. Whether it’s attending community meetings on housing issues, advocating for better public transportation or speaking out against unjust laws, citizens of Rochester have many opportunities to get involved in politics and shape their community’s future.
The political climate in Rochester Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
In Rochester Metro Area 53.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 43.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Rochester metro area remained strongly Democratic, 53.8% to 43.7%.
The Rochester metro area voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rochester Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
New York is moderately 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.
Rochester, New York: 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Rochester Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 58,992 contributions totaling $4,765,152 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 8,516 contributions totaling $2,704,684 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $318 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)