Gainesville, FL, located in zip code 32601 is a bustling city home to the University of Florida. With an ever-growing population, Gainesville has many unique political perspectives and issues that are important to its citizens. The City of Gainesville is led by Mayor Lauren Poe, who is supported by a five-member commission that serves as the legislative governing body for the city. The commission creates ordinances, sets policy decisions, and approves budgets for operating funds for Gainesville and the surrounding areas. Issues such as public safety, infrastructure development, and environmental conservation are frequently discussed by the commission, as well as how to ensure equitable access to resources and services throughout the city. Additionally, there are several local elected officials serving in offices around Gainesville like State Representative Clovis Watson Jr., Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell and Sheriff Sadie Darnell. Each of these political figures ensure that Gainesville's citizens are fairly represented in their respective positions and strive to make positive changes in their communities.
The political climate in Zip 32601 (Gainesville, FL) is strongly liberal.
Alachua County, FL is strongly liberal. In Alachua County, FL 62.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 35.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Alachua county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 62.7% to 35.6%.
Alachua county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 32601 (Gainesville, FL) is strongly liberal.
Gainesville, Florida is strongly liberal.
Alachua County, Florida is strongly liberal.
Gainesville Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Florida is leaning conservative.
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.
Gainesville, Florida: 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 32601 (Gainesville)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,189 contributions totaling $219,376 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $100 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 77 contributions totaling $23,383 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $304 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)