The map below shows the political leanings of people in and around California. Darker red areas have almost entirely Republican voters, dark blue areas vote mostly for Democrats, and areas in lighter shades or in light purple are areas where the vote is usually split between parties.
Politics Key
Very liberal
Split evenly
Very conservative
California tends to be democratic based on voting results in recent elections. Compared to other nearby states, California has more democratic voters. Compared to the nation as a whole, California leans more democratic.
Highly educated populations with bachelor’s degrees or higher tend to vote for more liberal candidates. In California, 31.89% of all adults have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. Educated women are far less likely to vote for conservatives, and in California women make up 50.31% of the population.
Older Americans tend to vote more conservatively. Members of the Boomer and Silent generations (born 1928-1964) more often vote for republicans while GenX, Millennials (born 1965-1996) and younger generations consistently support democrats. The median age in California is 37.4, which is younger than the national median age of 38.1.
Is California a political battleground? Across all types of political contests in California, including state, local and presidential elections, races come within five percentage points 17% of the time.
Note: Federal, local, and state elections are weighed based on the recency of the election and the importance most voters assign to each seat.
Nearby States
- Nevada: more conservative voters
- Arizona: more conservative voters
- Utah: more conservative voters
- Oregon: more conservative voters
- Idaho: more conservative voters
- New Mexico: more conservative voters
- Washington: more conservative voters
- Colorado: more conservative voters
- Wyoming: more conservative voters
- Montana: more conservative voters
States with Similar Populations
- Texas: more conservative voters
- Florida: more conservative voters
- New York: more liberal voters
- Illinois: more conservative voters
- Pennsylvania: more conservative voters
- Ohio: more conservative voters
- Georgia: more conservative voters
- North Carolina: more conservative voters
- Michigan: more conservative voters
- New Jersey: more conservative voters
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