The San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA Metro Area is an area of vibrant political activity. On the national level, the region has consistently voted for Democratic candidates in presidential elections since 1992. At the state level, the California State Assembly and Senate have several representatives from the area that serve to bring attention to regional issues. On the local level, there are several cities and municipal governments in the region that are managed by elected officials from both major political parties. This ensures a healthy balance of opinion when it comes to making decisions about how best to manage local taxes and addressing important social issues. Additionally, many of these local governments hold regular town hall meetings where citizens can interact with their representatives directly and express their views on various matters. Overall, this area is an example of effective democracy in action with strong representation from both sides of the aisle.
The political climate in San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
In San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles Metro Area 55.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande metro area remained strongly Democratic, 55.3% to 42.2%.
The San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande metro area voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles 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.
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 40,201 contributions totaling $2,405,611 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $60 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,123 contributions totaling $1,045,019 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $204 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)