Waterloo, IA is a city located in Black Hawk County, Iowa. It has a population of 68,406 people according to the 2019 census. Politically, Waterloo is strongly Democratic-leaning and has been since the early 2000s. In recent elections, the city has consistently voted for Democratic candidates both locally and nationally. Locally, current Mayor Quentin Hart is running for re-election in 2021 and a handful of other Democratic candidates are vying for spots on the City Council. The city also elects representatives to the state legislature in Des Moines from both major parties, so there is always an exciting political debate going on in Waterloo.
The political climate in Waterloo, IA is leaning liberal.
Black Hawk County, IA is somewhat liberal. In Black Hawk County, IA 53.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 44.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Black Hawk county remained moderately Democratic, 53.5% to 44.5%.
Black Hawk county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Waterloo, IA is leaning liberal.
Black Hawk County, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Iowa 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.
Waterloo, Iowa: D D D D d d
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 Waterloo, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,372 contributions totaling $300,963 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $69 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,136 contributions totaling $304,483 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $268 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)