Decatur, IN is a small town located in Adams County, with a population of just over 9,000 people. Politically, Decatur is a reliably conservative area – Donald Trump won the local vote in the 2016 election by over 20%. At the state level, Decatur sends Republican representatives to both the Indiana Senate and House of Representatives. Locally, Decatur is governed by an elected mayor and city council. The most recently elected mayor is Ken Meyer, who has held office since 2013. Currently, there are three members of the city council: Sandy Grieser (R), Melinda Hill (D), and David Stickler (R). Local elections are held every two years and candidates must be at least 18 years old and live within the city limits to participate.
The political climate in Decatur, IN is strongly conservative.
Adams County, IN is very conservative. In Adams County, IN 22.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 75.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Adams county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 75.0% to 22.7%.
Adams county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Decatur, IN is strongly conservative.
Adams County, Indiana is very conservative.
Decatur Metro Area is very conservative.
Indiana is somewhat 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.
Decatur, Indiana: 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 Decatur, IN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 216 contributions totaling $9,506 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $44 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 360 contributions totaling $102,816 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $286 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)