Pennsylvania is a key swing state in the United States, and as such, its politics have been of great importance to both major parties. The Democratic Party has traditionally held more control in the state than Republicans, with Democrats controlling all statewide executive offices and most of the congressional delegation. Despite this, Pennsylvania has become more politically competitive in recent years, and there are many close races for local offices across the state. Candidates from both parties run for office in local districts and counties throughout Pennsylvania, making it an important part of our democracy. As citizens of this great state we can take pride in knowing that our votes count and can make a difference when it comes to deciding who will lead us into the future.
The political climate in Pennsylvania is leaning liberal.
In Pennsylvania 49.9% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 48.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, Pennsylvania flipped narrowly Democratic, 49.9% to 48.7%.
Pennsylvania flipped back Democratic in the most recent Presidential election, voting Democratic in five of the last six elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
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.
Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania: d d D d r 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 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 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 Pennsylvania
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 672,604 contributions totaling $154,668,567 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $230 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 153,783 contributions totaling $76,407,708 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $497 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)