The politics in Princeton, NJ (08540) are strongly influenced by its citizens due to the large voter turnout seen in local elections. Princeton has a long history of having an engaged and passionate political culture, evident by the fact that it is one of the few cities in the state with a majority of registered Democrats. Local issues are frequently discussed throughout town, and residents are known for their involvement in advocacy efforts related to both state-wide and national topics. Elections for local offices often draw big crowds and high voter turnout levels, which ensures that the voices of citizens are heard. With so many people involved in politics, it’s no surprise that Princeton is home to numerous political clubs and organizations dedicated to educating citizens on current events. Every year, Princeton hosts several debates between candidates running for various offices, allowing voters to become more informed about who they should be supporting at the polls.
The political climate in Zip 08540 (Princeton, NJ) is strongly liberal.
Mercer County, NJ is very liberal. In Mercer County, NJ 69.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 29.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Mercer county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 69.1% to 29.1%.
Mercer county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 08540 (Princeton, NJ) is strongly liberal.
Princeton, New Jersey is strongly liberal.
Mercer County, New Jersey is very liberal.
Trenton-Princeton Metro Area is very liberal.
New Jersey is somewhat 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.
Princeton, New Jersey: 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 three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 08540 (Princeton)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 24,028 contributions totaling $5,669,848 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $236 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,521 contributions totaling $2,796,007 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,838 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)