Local elections are less partisan because voters cross party lines on issues that affect them personally.

The hand-wringing over American politics often focuses on the sharp and growing differences between Democrats and Republicans.

More and more evidence suggests that voters are less likely than ever to separate their votes or vote for candidates from different parties in presidential or congressional elections. Polarization on sensitive issues has increasedin addition to hostilities towards members of the opposing party.

Research also shows that political campaigns on the state level have turn into more partisan. The results of state-level campaigns reflect the outcomes of presidential elections more closely than they used to.

As political scientists who study local politics, we desired to know: Does this partisanship also apply to city, district and other local elections?

Controversy over partisanship in local elections

Scholars have paid relatively little attention to local elections, but some Academic Research suggests that local elections have also turn into increasingly partisan. This would suggest that the main points of local election campaigns – for instance, debates over housing, homelessness, and public works projects – are less essential to voters' decision-making than party affiliation.

There is reason to be skeptical about these claims.

Firstly, most mayoral and city council elections within the USA are formally non-partisanlike most school board elections; voters may not even know the candidates' party affiliation. And contentious local issues, equivalent to where to construct reasonably priced housing, is probably not resolved clearly along party lines.

In addition, party political control over local governments cannot essential for voters as is the case at national level.

That’s what many citizens said in Our survey researchconducted in California in 2021 and cited in our 2024 articles for Urban Affairs Review. Over 60% of respondents said they voted based on candidates' policy positions reasonably than their party affiliation. This factor was way more essential than other electoral shortcuts equivalent to party endorsements or candidates' demographic characteristics.

Of course, it is usually possible that the voters we surveyed said they prioritized issues over politics just because it’s more socially desirable; it makes them appear more conscientious and thoughtful.

That’s why we decided to check their commitment to non-partisanship in local elections.

A survey experiment

How would voters react in the event that they were faced with a selection and the candidate from the opposing party was closer to their political opinions than the candidate from their very own party? Would they really defect to the opposing party on this race?

To answer these questions, our team of three researchers conducted a survey experiment at two California State University locations based on the findings from Our 2021 surveyIn the brand new poll, conducted in late 2022 amongst 905 partisan registered voters in California, we gave respondents a selection between a city council candidate from their party who held policy views opposite to their very own and a candidate from the opposite party who shared their policy preferences.

The survey focused on two highly relevant local topics: Homelessness and housing shortages. These issues are essential to voters, and distinguished California politicians from the identical party have different positions on them.

In the experiment, some respondents had to make a choice from a politician from their very own party who agreed with them on one in every of these issues and a candidate from the opposing party who didn’t; this was the control group. In our separate test group, voters had to make a choice from a candidate from their very own party who disagreed with them on one in every of the problems and a candidate from the opposing party who shared their views on that issue.

The experimental approach allowed us to isolate differences on these two questions from other policy issues that will have influenced their voting.

Our findings

We found that voters overall usually tend to support candidates from their very own party—even when a candidate from the opposing party was closer to their views on essential local issues. About 60% of Democrats and Republicans supported their party's candidate for city council despite policy differences.

However, 4 out of ten respondents on this vote left their party because they gave priority to local issues – or at the least these two local issues – over party affiliation.

In fact, most voters have abandoned their party's candidate under certain circumstances. A full 70 percent of respondents who favor a police-led approach to homelessness, equivalent to clearing the conspicuous tent encampments which have sprung up across California, would support a city council candidate from the opposing party who called for police to clear tent cities.

Looking more closely on the patterns from our experimental data, we found that each strength of party affiliation and political opinions mattered. Weak partisans were more more likely to cross party lines than strong partisans. Voters were also more more likely to cross party lines in the event that they considered homelessness and housing to be very essential issues or in the event that they had more extreme political preferences.

Party affiliations: Practical, but not binding

Our research refutes the common belief that Partisanship dominates American electoral decision-making.

This suggests that Republican candidates can win in predominantly Democratic districts and vice versa. Voters may cross party lines to support politicians who take an appealing stance on local, serious issues, which can require a break with party orthodoxy. Nonpartisan ballots that obscure candidates' party affiliation may entice voters to defect from the party.

The consequences are significant. More than 500,000 elected officials – 96% of all elected officials within the United States – serve on the local level, serving on city councils, county boards of supervisors, school boards, special districts, and the like.

In local politics, it seems, a candidate's party affiliation is more of a practical matter for voters than an identification that brings great loyalty. Partisanship means less about staying loyal to your local sports team, even when it's having a nasty season, and more about shopping at the closest supermarket until a greater one comes along.