The politics in 95060 Santa Cruz, CA are dominated by a progressive ethos based around social justice, sustainability and environmental protection. At the local level, the City of Santa Cruz is led by Mayor Justin Cummings and the City Council consists of eight members elected to two-year terms. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is also made up of five members who are elected for four-year terms. Each year, local citizens have the opportunity to vote on various initiatives and ballot measures which can influence policy in their city and county. In addition to this direct democracy, community engagement with outsized representation from students has been a major factor in shaping politics in Santa Cruz. Recently, youth activists have worked to pass resolutions addressing climate change and advocating for affordable housing throughout the area.
The political climate in Zip 95060 (Santa Cruz, CA) is strongly liberal.
Santa Cruz County, CA is very liberal. In Santa Cruz County, CA 78.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 18.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Santa Cruz county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 78.4% to 18.5%.
Santa Cruz county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 95060 (Santa Cruz, CA) is strongly liberal.
Santa Cruz, California is strongly liberal.
Santa Cruz County, California is very liberal.
Santa Cruz-Watsonville Metro Area is very liberal.
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.
Santa Cruz, California: 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 95060 (Santa Cruz)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 22,335 contributions totaling $3,427,181 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $153 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 787 contributions totaling $206,064 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $262 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)