Appleton, Wisconsin is a city located in Outagamie County and is the heart of the Fox River Valley. The city has a thriving business sector, with several large corporations based in the area. On the local level, Appleton operates under a city council-mayor form of government and features a nonpartisan ballot for local elections. The current mayor of Appleton is Tim Hanna, who was elected in 2018. He serves as head of the council along with eight other members representing citizens from various wards. Every four years there are elections for local seats on the City Council and Mayor's office to ensure that all voices are heard and represented in Appleton's government. There have been several initiatives to improve transparency in the local political process by making information about city finances, budgets, and officials more easily accessible to residents online. In addition, Appleton has seen an increase in civic engagement over recent years as citizens continue to work together for positive change on issues such as housing affordability, environmental protection, public safety, economic development, and more.
The political climate in Appleton, WI is leaning conservative.
Outagamie County, WI is somewhat conservative. In Outagamie County, WI 44.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 54.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.8% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Outagamie county remained moderately Republican, 54.0% to 44.1%.
Outagamie county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Appleton, WI is leaning conservative.
Outagamie County, Wisconsin is somewhat conservative.
Appleton Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Wisconsin is leaning liberal.
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.
Appleton, Wisconsin: r r D 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 Appleton, WI
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 7,566 contributions totaling $875,215 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $116 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,532 contributions totaling $963,442 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $381 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)