Sandpoint, Idaho is a small town located just east of Lake Pend Oreille in the northern panhandle area. The city is considered part of Bonner County and has a population of 8,385 as of 2019. As with any small town, politics play an important role in Sandpoint's local landscape. Each year, the city elects its mayor and four councilpersons to serve two-year terms on the City Council. A wide range of topics are discussed within this body including issues such as taxes, infrastructure, public safety, economic development and more. Additionally, Sandpoint citizens also take part in deciding county-level offices every four years by voting for their local representatives to serve in the state legislature. Residents also have the opportunity to cast their ballots for national offices like United States President or Senator during election season. While there are no specific local political candidates to mention here, Sandpoint citizens have ample opportunities to shape their local landscape through the electoral process at different levels of government each year.
The political climate in Sandpoint, ID is moderately conservative.
Bonner County, ID is very conservative. In Bonner County, ID 30.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 67.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Bonner county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 67.2% to 30.4%.
Bonner county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Sandpoint, ID is moderately conservative.
Bonner County, Idaho is very conservative.
Sandpoint Metro Area is very conservative.
Idaho is strongly conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Sandpoint, Idaho: R R R R R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Sandpoint, ID
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,565 contributions totaling $191,955 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $75 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 488 contributions totaling $354,387 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $726 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)