The Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metro Area is home to a diverse population of individuals from different backgrounds and political views. It has a variety of local politicians representing the area in various positions including the state legislatures, county commissioners, and school boards. It is also the home to several advocacy groups that are active in promoting their interests, such as labor unions, environmental organizations, and business associations. Local politicians strive to ensure that the needs of all constituents are met through thoughtful policies and legislation. In addition, many nationally recognized political figures have come from this area such as former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. The politics of Albany-Schenectady-Troy are complex and ever-changing but have been integral in the development of this region for decades.
The political climate in Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
In Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metro Area 56.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro area remained very strongly Democratic, 56.3% to 41.3%.
The Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro area voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 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.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York: 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 72,655 contributions totaling $6,123,061 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $84 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 7,947 contributions totaling $2,298,804 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $289 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)