The Altoona, PA Metro Area is an important part of the local political landscape in central Pennsylvania. The city of Altoona itself has a mayor-council form of government with seven council members elected to represent their constituents. The City Council meets regularly to discuss municipal issues and provide direction on how the city should move forward. Outside of the city limits, many other townships and boroughs have their own local governments with their own elected officials, including mayors, town council members, school board directors, and more. Each local municipality is responsible for setting its own laws and regulations that best serve the people living within its borders. There are also a number of state representatives from the area who are tasked with representing the citizens’ interests at the state level and advocating for them in Harrisburg. Overall, politics in the Altoona area are diverse and varied, giving residents many options when it comes to choosing leaders who will work hard to improve their communities.
The political climate in Altoona Metro Area is very conservative.
In Altoona Metro Area 27.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 71.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Altoona metro area remained overwhelmingly Republican, 71.1% to 27.7%.
The Altoona metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Altoona Metro Area is very 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.
Altoona, 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Altoona Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,359 contributions totaling $82,017 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $60 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,478 contributions totaling $619,100 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $419 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)