Lake Forest, IL is a quiet suburb located in the heart of Lake County. It has a rich history with roots dating back to the mid 1800s when it was initially settled by wealthy Chicagoans who wanted a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. Today, Lake Forest is home to over 20,000 people and offers many amenities such as top-rated schools, close proximity to downtown Chicago, and plenty of recreational activities. In terms of politics, Lake Forest is represented by several local politicians on both the state and national level. These representatives are responsible for ensuring that Lake Forest's interests are heard in Springfield and Washington D.C., respectively. On the county level, residents have elected Republican Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor while at the state level Democrat Julie Morrison represents them in Illinois Senate District 29. The residents also have a representative in Congress with Brad Schneider holding office for Illinois’s 10th congressional district. Together these representatives work to ensure that Lake Foresters receive their fair share of state and federal resources while protecting their interests in legislative proceedings.
The political climate in Zip 60045 (Lake Forest, IL) is somewhat liberal.
Lake County, IL is strongly liberal. In Lake County, IL 60.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 36.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Lake county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 60.8% to 36.8%.
Lake county voted Democratic in the four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 60045 (Lake Forest, IL) is somewhat liberal.
Lake Forest, Illinois is somewhat liberal.
Lake County, Illinois is strongly liberal.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metro Area is very liberal.
Illinois is moderately 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.
Lake Forest, Illinois: r r 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 60045 (Lake Forest)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,618 contributions totaling $1,862,620 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $711 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,152 contributions totaling $54,624,022 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $17,330 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)