Politics in Lakeland, FL are heavily shaped by its local government and the policies they enact. The city is run by a commission-manager system, which consists of five elected commissioners who make policy decisions and one city manager who implements them. City elections take place every two years, with the most recent being held in April 2020. Issues currently being discussed include economic development, infrastructure improvement, land use planning, and public safety. The city government works to ensure that Lakeland remains an attractive and livable city for all residents. They strive to create policies that protect the rights of citizens while also promoting responsible economic growth and development.
The political climate in Lakeland, FL is leaning conservative.
Polk County, FL is somewhat conservative. In Polk County, FL 42.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained strongly Republican, 56.6% to 42.2%.
Polk county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Lakeland, FL is leaning conservative.
Polk County, Florida is somewhat conservative.
Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Florida is leaning 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.
Lakeland, Florida: 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 Lakeland, FL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,900 contributions totaling $478,190 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $98 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,817 contributions totaling $1,793,938 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $637 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)