New Bedford, MA is a city located in Bristol County with a population of about 95,000 people. It is governed by an elected Mayor and City Council. The City Council is composed of nine members: one for each ward who are elected to two-year terms and the Mayor, who is elected to a four-year term. New Bedford has recently been experiencing a political shift with many new candidates running for office. This is seen as a positive first step towards making the city more inclusive and innovative in their approach to decision-making. There have also been several initiatives put forward that focus on economic development and job creation as well as educational opportunities for the citizens of New Bedford. The Mayor and City Council are committed to continuing these efforts in order to make New Bedford an even better place to live, work, play, and raise families.
The political climate in Zip 02745 (New Bedford, MA) is somewhat liberal.
Bristol County, MA is somewhat liberal. In Bristol County, MA 54.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Bristol county remained strongly Democratic, 54.9% to 42.9%.
Bristol county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 02745 (New Bedford, MA) is somewhat liberal.
New Bedford, Massachusetts is somewhat liberal.
Bristol County, Massachusetts is somewhat liberal.
Providence-Warwick Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Massachusetts is very 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.
New Bedford, Massachusetts: 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 02745 (New Bedford)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 276 contributions totaling $13,638 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $49 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 134 contributions totaling $11,422 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $85 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)