Mount Desert leans heavily Democratic by roughly 38 points: about 69% of voters vote Democratic and 31% Republican. These figures are model estimates: Maine 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 more than 99% of adults in Mount Desert typically vote, above the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Mount Desert, ~76% vote Democratic, ~34% Republican, and ~-10% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Mount Desert compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Mount Desert leans more Democratic than 57 of 60 neighbors.
Mount Desert runs about 30 points more Democratic than Maine as a whole.
Politics vary noticeably by neighborhood within Mount Desert. The east side is the most Democratic-leaning (D+44) and the southwest side is the least Democratic-leaning (D+31), a spread of about 13 points.
Why Mount Desert 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 Mount Desert, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with high college attainment vote Democratic. About 60% of adults in Mount Desert hold a bachelor's degree, about 31 points above the U.S. average of 28%.
Walkability and Democratic lean
Places with a highly walkable street grid tend to lean Democratic; Mount Desert, ME 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 Mount Desert looks the way it does
Areas with strong routine healthcare access turn out at higher rates. Mount Desert is in the top quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 70%, about 10 points above the U.S. average of 60%. High high-school completion lines up with higher turnout, and more than 99% of adults in Mount Desert have completed high school, in the top fraction of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Indian Point, ME D+36
- Frenchboro, ME D+4
- Salsbury Cove, ME D+46
- Southwest Harbor, ME D+10
- Bar Harbor, ME D+44
- Seal Cove, ME D+19
- Seal Harbor, ME D+44
- Bernard, ME D+19
- Seawall, ME D+8
- Bass Harbor, ME D+19
Cities with Similar Populations
- Burnett, WI R+45
- Woodbine, KY R+76
- DeRuyter, NY R+43
- Tidioute, PA R+42
- Chetopa, KS R+61
- Cool Valley, MO D+75
- Point Venture, TX R+5
- Bennington, IN R+65
- Ballard, UT R+71
- Russell, IA R+53
All Local Stats
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Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Corporations Elections and Commissions, 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. ME 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.