The city of Portage, MI, located in Kalamazoo County, is home to an interesting political landscape. With an estimated population of approximately 48,000 people, the city is served by numerous local government bodies. These include the Portage City Council and Mayor Tim Rogers, who were elected in 2019 following a municipal election. The City Council makes important decisions about public projects such as road maintenance and recreation centers. Additionally, they are responsible for zoning and creating ordinances that dictate how the city operates. Portage also has various state representatives who have been serving their constituents since 2018. They advocate for local interests within their respective districts on issues like healthcare, taxation, education, and more. Ultimately, the commitment to civic engagement and participation from all residents ensures that Portage remains a vibrant place for its citizens to live and work.
The political climate in Zip 49002 (Portage, MI) is somewhat liberal.
Kalamazoo County, MI is moderately liberal. In Kalamazoo County, MI 58.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 39.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kalamazoo county remained very strongly Democratic, 58.2% to 39.5%.
Kalamazoo county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 49002 (Portage, MI) is somewhat liberal.
Portage, Michigan is somewhat liberal.
Kalamazoo County, Michigan is moderately liberal.
Kalamazoo-Portage Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
Michigan 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.
Portage, Michigan: 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 49002 (Portage)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 702 contributions totaling $104,817 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $149 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 240 contributions totaling $87,320 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $364 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)