Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States but it still has a strong political presence. The state government is managed by the Rhode Island General Assembly, which consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Governor of Rhode Island serves as the head of the state government, and he or she is elected every four years in a statewide election. Rhode Island also has two senators in the United States Senate that represent its interests on a national level. Additionally, there are two U.S. Representatives from Rhode Island who serve in the House of Representatives. All candidates running for office are required to register their candidacy with local election boards and must meet certain requirements to be eligible for office. It is important to stay informed about political issues at both the state and national level so that residents know who is representing them and what kind of policies they are promoting.
The political climate in Rhode Island is moderately liberal.
In Rhode Island 59.4% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 38.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, Rhode Island remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 59.4% to 38.6%.
Rhode Island voted Democratic in the previous six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rhode Island 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.
Rhode Island, Rhode Island: 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 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 Rhode Island
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 76,107 contributions totaling $12,948,338 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $170 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 6,907 contributions totaling $4,911,440 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $711 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)