The Bloomington, IL Metro Area is a thriving community that is home to numerous businesses, government agencies, and cultural attractions. It is also the political hub of central Illinois, with an active civic life involving both local and state-level politics. Local elections take place regularly in order to fill positions of leadership in Bloomington such as mayor, city council members, village presidents, as well as in other nearby municipalities. Additionally, residents of Bloomington often participate in larger political movements throughout the state of Illinois. These include legislative initiatives concerning taxation and economic policy as well as social justice issues such as civil rights. Participation is encouraged from all citizens regardless of age or background. With the collective support of its citizenry behind them, elected officials strive to create a better future for everyone by making decisions that benefit both short-term and long-term goals.
The political climate in Bloomington Metro Area is leaning conservative.
In Bloomington Metro Area 48.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 48.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Bloomington metro area flipped slightly Democratic, 48.4% to 48.3%.
The Bloomington metro area flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bloomington Metro Area is leaning conservative.
Illinois is moderately 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.
Bloomington, Illinois: R R r R r 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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Bloomington Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 11,438 contributions totaling $512,001 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $45 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,219 contributions totaling $517,946 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $233 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)