Gay is a Republican stronghold. About 15% of voters here vote Democratic and 85% Republican.
About 51% of adults in Gay typically vote, below the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Gay, ~8% vote Democratic, ~43% Republican, and ~49% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Gay compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Gay leans more Republican than 96 of 102 neighbors.
Gay runs about 27 points more Republican than West Virginia as a whole.
Why Gay leans the way it does
This analysis examined 14,881 data points per city to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Gay, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with a high white share and below-average college attainment vote Republican. In Gay, about 98% of residents are non-Hispanic white, about 25 points above the U.S. average of 72%; about 9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree, about 7 points below the West Virginia average of 17%. Rural areas vote Republican, and Gay sits in the bottom quarter on density (about 4%, below 84% of cities).
Walkability and Republican lean
Places with a low walkability score tend to lean Republican; Gay, WV sits in the bottom 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 Gay looks the way it does
High-crime urban areas turn out at lower rates, mostly because the housing stress common in those areas makes voting harder. Gay sits in the top 15% nationally on a violent-crime measure. See CrimeGrade for more details. High food insecurity lines up with lower turnout, and about 21% of adults in Gay report food insecurity, above 82% of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Skidmore, WV R+69
- Plum Orchard, WV R+70
- Marshall, WV R+69
- Hereford, WV R+67
- Advent, WV R+61
- Peniel, WV R+64
- Salt Hill, WV R+67
- Gandeeville, WV R+65
- Fletcher, WV R+71
- Reedyville, WV R+55
Cities with Similar Populations
- Lind Cove, CA R+39
- Farner, TN R+75
- Eureka, FL R+66
- Belcher, KY R+64
- Overbrook, AL R+60
- Birthright, TX R+78
- Laketon, IN R+61
- Finley, ND R+35
- Tillar, AR R+21
- Germania, WI R+38
Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from West Virginia Secretary of State, Elections, 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. Full methodology and findings: political spectrum map.
Methodology reviewed by the BestNeighborhood data team. Last updated May 2026.