The Harrisburg-Carlisle metropolitan area is home to a diverse political landscape, with candidates from both major parties vying for votes. The majority of the region consists of suburban and rural communities nestled in the rolling hills of south central Pennsylvania. The state capital, Harrisburg, is located within this area and serves as an important center of political activity. State and local representatives are elected to office every four years in primaries and general elections. Party platforms vary widely amongst the different candidates, however many focus on issues such as education funding, healthcare reform, economic development, crime reduction, and infrastructure improvements. In recent years the area has seen increased participation in local politics from young people and minority groups who seek to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
The political climate in Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area is leaning conservative.
In Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area 46.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 51.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Harrisburg-Carlisle metro area remained narrowly Republican, 51.3% to 46.8%.
The Harrisburg-Carlisle metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
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.
Harrisburg-Carlisle, 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 Harrisburg-Carlisle Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 28,156 contributions totaling $13,304,866 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $473 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 9,323 contributions totaling $2,872,534 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $308 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)