Downtown, Manchester, NH Political Map | Democrat & Republican Areas in Downtown

By the BestNeighborhood data science team. Last updated May 2026.

Downtown leans heavily Democratic by roughly 44 points: about 72% of voters vote Democratic and 28% Republican. These figures are model estimates: New Hampshire did not have precinct-level voting records available for training, so the numbers above come from demographic and health features rather than local ground truth.

 

About 53% of adults in Downtown typically vote, below the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Downtown, ~38% vote Democratic, ~15% Republican, and ~47% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.

How Downtown compares

Among neighborhoods within 5 miles, Downtown is the most Democratic-leaning.

Downtown runs about 42 points more Democratic than New Hampshire as a whole.

Politics vary noticeably by block within Downtown. The north side is the most Democratic-leaning (D+50) and the southeast side is the least Democratic-leaning (D+36), a spread of about 14 points.

Why Downtown leans the way it does

This analysis examined 14,881 data points per neighborhood to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Downtown, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.

Areas with many never-married adults vote Democratic. About 54% of adults in Downtown have never been married, modestly above similar-sized neighborhoods (around 41%).

Walkability and Democratic lean

Places with a highly walkable street grid tend to lean Democratic; Downtown, Manchester, NH sits in the top quarter nationally on this measure. A walkable street grid does not change how people vote; it mostly reflects how urban a place is.

Why turnout in Downtown looks the way it does

Renters vote less often than owners. About 95% of households in Downtown rent, about 70 points above the U.S. average of 25%. Crowded housing lines up with lower turnout, and about 7% of homes in Downtown have more than one occupant per room, above 84% of neighborhoods. High-crime urban areas turn out at lower rates, and Downtown sits in the top 15% on a violent-crime measure. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.

Sources and methodology

Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from New Hampshire Secretary of State, Elections Division, distributed by the Voting and Election Science Team. Demographic inputs come from the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 5-year estimates and the 2020 Decennial Census). Health and environmental inputs come from the CDC (PLACES and the Environmental Justice Index). Land cover comes from the USGS and EPA. Election-day and lead-up weather come from PRISM 4km daily grids and the NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network. Mail-voting and election-administration patterns come from the MIT Election Lab's Survey of the Performance of American Elections. Block-group crime detail comes from CrimeGrade. Internet data and modeling support provided by ISPreports.org.

Modeling and analysis by the BestNeighborhood data science team. NH did not have precinct-level voting records available for training, so the figures here come from extrapolation across demographic, health, and land-use features rather than local ground truth. Full methodology and findings: political spectrum map.

Methodology reviewed by the BestNeighborhood data team. Last updated May 2026.