The politics in 97306 Salem, OR are incredibly diverse and varied. The city is home to a large number of registered voters who participate in both local and national elections. Local races can be heavily contested and involve a variety of candidates from both major political parties, as well as independent and third-party candidates. On the national level, Salem has consistently voted for Democratic candidates and the current congressional representative for Oregon’s 5th District is Peter DeFazio (D). Regardless of affiliation or lack thereof, Salem residents take their politics seriously, pay attention to issues affecting them directly, and strive to make their voices heard in all matters related to politics and government.
The political climate in Zip 97306 (Salem, OR) is leaning conservative.
Marion County, OR is leaning liberal. In Marion County, OR 48.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Marion county flipped narrowly Democratic, 48.9% to 47.7%.
Marion county flipped Democratic in 2020, after voting Republican in four of the last six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 97306 (Salem, OR) is leaning conservative.
Salem, Oregon is leaning conservative.
Marion County, Oregon is leaning liberal.
Salem Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Oregon 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.
Salem, Oregon: r r d r r 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 97306 (Salem)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,173 contributions totaling $120,140 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $55 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 537 contributions totaling $86,965 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $162 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)