In 19604 Reading, PA, the politics of the day revolve around numerous local issues and policies that affect people in the community. During election season, citizens come out in droves to support their preferred candidate for mayor, city councilors, school board members and other local government positions. These elections are usually highly contested with passionate debate from both sides. The main issues that tend to dominate these races include public safety, education reform, economic revitalization and infrastructure improvement. Beyond these local elections, many residents also keep an eye on federal and state-level politics as they strive to stay informed about changing laws and regulations that could affect them on a daily basis.
The political climate in Zip 19604 (Reading, PA) is leaning liberal.
Berks County, PA is leaning conservative. In Berks County, PA 45.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Berks county remained moderately Republican, 53.2% to 45.1%.
Berks county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 19604 (Reading, PA) is leaning liberal.
Reading, Pennsylvania is leaning liberal.
Berks County, Pennsylvania is leaning conservative.
Reading Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Pennsylvania is leaning 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.
Reading, Pennsylvania: r r d 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 19604 (Reading)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 350 contributions totaling $11,217 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $32 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 168 contributions totaling $21,742 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $129 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)