Ocala, Florida is a city in Marion County, located in North Central Florida. It has a population of about 59,000 people and is the county seat of Marion County. The city is governed by an elected mayor and six city council members who are each elected to staggered four-year terms. The current mayor is Kent Guinn, who was first elected in 2014. Ocala's politics are strongly influenced by its location in Marion County, which is considered to be one of the most conservative counties in the state of Florida. Issues that are important to residents include economic development, public safety, infrastructure improvements, and environmental protection. Many local candidates focus on these issues while campaigning for office. Several major political events such as primaries and general elections are held annually to determine the future direction of Ocala’s government.
The political climate in Zip 34472 (Ocala, FL) is moderately conservative.
Marion County, FL is strongly conservative. In Marion County, FL 36.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 62.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Marion county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 62.4% to 36.6%.
Marion county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 34472 (Ocala, FL) is moderately conservative.
Ocala, Florida is moderately conservative.
Marion County, Florida is strongly conservative.
Ocala Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Florida is leaning 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.
Ocala, Florida: 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 34472 (Ocala)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 461 contributions totaling $14,122 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $31 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 160 contributions totaling $19,161 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $120 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)