The city of Bakersfield, CA is a vibrant and diverse community situated in the southern San Joaquin Valley. It is home to an estimated 367,000 people who are served by a seven-member city council, led by Mayor Karen Goh. The mayor and council oversee various departments ranging from public safety to urban planning. As a politically engaged community, residents take part in local elections that shape how their city runs and makes decisions. In recent years, local issues such as housing affordability, infrastructure improvements, and public transportation have been at the forefront of debate for candidates vying for office. Many political issues unique to Bakersfield also come into play during municipal elections including water conservation efforts, education reform, recreation opportunities for citizens of all ages, and economic development initiatives that create jobs and strengthen the local economy.
The political climate in Zip 93301 (Bakersfield, CA) is leaning conservative.
Kern County, CA is somewhat conservative. In Kern County, CA 43.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kern county remained strongly Republican, 53.9% to 43.7%.
Kern county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 93301 (Bakersfield, CA) is leaning conservative.
Bakersfield, California is leaning conservative.
Kern County, California is somewhat conservative.
Bakersfield Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
California is strongly 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.
Bakersfield, California: 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 93301 (Bakersfield)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 325 contributions totaling $47,395 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $146 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 299 contributions totaling $136,571 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $457 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)