Tuscaloosa, Alabama is a city located in the central region of the state with a zip code of 35401. It is home to the University of Alabama and is a bustling college town. Politically, the county is predominantly Democratic, having voted for Barack Obama in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. Local politics involve races for mayor, city council, school board members and other offices that affect life within the city limits. In recent years incumbents have had much success in retaining their respective positions when they run for reelection. Community engagement is also high with local candidates actively engaging with residents on an ongoing basis throughout election cycles to understand what issues are important to them. The city has experienced significant growth in recent years making it even more important that local politicians remain engaged with their constituents and stay up-to-date on pressing issues.
The political climate in Zip 35401 (Tuscaloosa, AL) is leaning conservative.
Tuscaloosa County, AL is somewhat conservative. In Tuscaloosa County, AL 41.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Tuscaloosa county remained strongly Republican, 56.7% to 41.9%.
Tuscaloosa county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 35401 (Tuscaloosa, AL) is leaning conservative.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama is leaning conservative.
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama is somewhat conservative.
Tuscaloosa Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Alabama is strongly conservative.
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.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama: 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 three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 35401 (Tuscaloosa)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 854 contributions totaling $110,192 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $129 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 85 contributions totaling $29,668 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $349 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)