Is Anaheim, California a Liberal City?

The majority of California cities are strongly liberal, and while Anaheim is liberal, it is not overwhelmingly so. This is why it is important to look at the political views of individual cities when deciding to move or even visit a new place for an extended stay.

The political climate of Anaheim is moderately liberal with a recent turn from Republican majority. Orange county shows liberal ideals in recent voting statistics, financial contributions made to Democratic party and liberal campaigns, support for the LGBTQ+ community, and abortion views.

Anaheim is leaning more liberal, following the Golden State’s norm. There are several areas in which Orange County shows its liberal views the most strongly.

Voting Statistics

The voting statistics of Anaheim, California show that the city is liberal, but is only recently turning from a Republican majority. In the last Presidential election, 53.5% of voters in Orange county supported the Democratic party candidate, taking the majority. The Republican party candidate received only 44.4% of the votes in Anaheim, and the remaining 2.1% of participating residents voted Independent.

Orange county has voted Democratic in the last two Presidential elections: 2016 and 2020, breaking a Republican streak in the years before. In the 2020 election, the Democratic Party received 9.1% more votes than the Republican party, nearly securing a 10% lead. The majority of voters in the area supported a liberal campaign, and have done so in the last two elections, showing a recent liberal turn in the city of Anaheim.

Financial Contributions to Party Campaigns

Voting statistics are not the only way that Anaheim records a liberal population. The city’s financial contributions to the individual party or political campaigns over the last four years show a strong liberal majority in the city.

From the years of 2018-2021, the Democratic party and liberal campaigns received an incredible total of 21,921 contributions in Orange county alone. These contributions made a total of $2,232,360 donated to these liberal and Democratic party campaigns and an average of $102 per contribution made.

The Republican party and conservative campaigns only received a total of $1,984,810 in contributions from Orange county in the same four-year time frame. These came from a total of 7,439 contributions, and an average of $267 per contribution made.

Democratic party and liberal campaigns received a total of 14,482 more contributions and $247,550 more in monetary value than the opposing Republican party and conservative campaigns were able to receive in the same amount of time. There is a liberal majority depicted in the financial contributions made in Anaheim over the last four years, which shows that their current liberal majority is not an anomaly. The area has shown a strong liberal majority for several years, and it continues to grow.

Abortion Views

The State of California is strongly liberal, especially in terms of stances on the legal right and access to abortion procedures. In June of 2022, the US Supreme Court announced that the Roe v Wade case of 1973 is now overturned. This announcement means that the legal right to an abortion procedure is no longer considered to be protected under the US Constitution.

Each US State now has the opportunity to ban or legalize abortions within their own state boundaries and make abortion procedures as available or unavailable as they please.

Many citizens around the nation protested against this change, including Anaheim residents. Thousands of pro-abortion protesters marched across Southern California. Planned Parenthood organized a series of rallies across the country, including one held in Orange County. One protester from Anaheim said, “It’s not about abortion, it’s about choice,”

These protesters were not the only Californians who were upset by the Supreme Court’s announcement over Roe v. Wade. California’s Democratic government members referred to the overturning of the case as a “dangerous attack on the rights of women and others who will lose access to reproductive care”.

Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democratic party member and current governor of California, was also outraged. He signed a bill that protects out-of-state doctors and patients that travel to California to perform an abortion from legal actions against them for doing so.

Anaheim and the State of California remain liberal in their views and efforts toward legalizing abortions and protecting this right for all American citizens. They support not only Californians or even residents of Anaheim in doing so, but they now support all people in the United States who wish to travel there for the procedure to be done safely and legally. This shows that the residents not only believe that liberalism is the correct decision and stance for them and their families but also for US citizens in every other state as well.

High Tax Rates

To support their idealized strength in governmental power and authority, liberals support higher tax rates on citizens. Conservatives favor lower tax rates that allow them more individual liberties and independence.

The average sales tax rate in the United States is only at 5.09%. Anaheim requires a much higher rate at 7.75% sales tax. This rate is accounted for by the combination of state, city, and county sales tax rates. High tax rates are supported by liberal views, and Anaheim has a much higher sales tax rate than the vast majority of cities in the nation. Orange county shows a liberal majority in its sales tax rate.

LGBTQ+ Support

In the Anaheim area, there is an incredible amount of support for LGBTQ+ members and their friends and families. There are groups, activities, and events within the community completely dedicated to these individuals and their loved ones.

Some of the local Anaheim groups and events include:

LGBTQ Hiking of OC
PFLAG Orange County
Queering Faith
A.P.I LGBTQ+ Online
Queer Crafting
Queer Femmes
Community Events for Queer Women by ClexaCon
OC Pride
Lesbian Organizers United

These are only a small representation of the opportunities for LGBTQ+ individuals to support one another and for other community members to gather and show love and support for the people of this community as well. The LGBTQ+ Anaheim Pride Festival also draws in hundreds of people every year in June to celebrate Pride month and the LGBTQ members of Anaheim and across the world.

Showing incredible support to the LGBTQ+ community members and helping protect their rights is an action that liberals believe in strongly. Orange County has shown great support to this community for a number of years.

Elected Government Officials

Both members of the United States Senate that represent California are affiliated with the Democratic party. Democrats also claim the majority in other areas of California’s representation in the national government. For example, 42 of the 53 members of the United States House of Representatives from California are members of the Democratic party as well.

The current governor of California supports liberal views as well. Governor Gavin Newsom is a proud member of the Democratic Party. The plethora of California’s elected governmental leaders strongly represents the liberal views among residents. He shows liberalism in his views and efforts to protect abortion rights for women. Governor Newsom recently signed an executive order to protect women coming to California from other states to receive an abortion from legal repercussions. Pro-abortion views are liberal.

Religion

Conservatives are known to generally be more religious than liberals. This is largely due to the fact that the liberals who are religiously affiliated choose to separate these political views completely from their religious beliefs. This leads to the division of political views between conservatives and liberals on a variety of subjects such as abortion, same-sex marriage, embryotic research, and physician-assisted suicides.

When an area has a high percentage of the population affiliated with a religion or possessing religious beliefs, it is often a clear indication that the area is more conservative in political views. In the case of Anaheim, California, the city shows that less than half of the population is religious, with only 46.5% of residents. Generally, when less than half of the population is not religious in a city, the political majority is liberal. Anaheim, California is not an exception to this norm.

Climate Action Plan

Like most liberal cities, Anaheim has put into place a Climate Action Plan. This is geared toward the limitation of greenhouse gas emissions within the city. They work to limit the use of fossil fuels and increase the use of renewable energy resources. This supports liberal ideals to be more eco-friendly. Nearly all liberal cities in the United States have efforts, plans, committees, and other organized efforts to limit their carbon footprint. Many even sign on to coordinated plans and initiatives.

The majority of greenhouse gas emissions in Anaheim come from transportation in the city, which accounts for 41%, nearly half. The industrial efforts in Anaheim account for 24% of them. 9% of greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the production of electricity.

Solar panels are a very common sight in Anaheim because the liberal population works to use more renewable energy resources. There are many sustainable energy resources offered within the community for those who wish to support this cause as well.