Iowa is a state in the Midwest region of the United States and it is known for its agricultural production and rural culture. Iowa also has an active political scene, with many important players that make their mark on both local and national politics. On the local level, Iowa has several elected offices such as mayor, city council members, board of supervisors, sheriff, and county auditor. For more statewide politics, Iowa holds caucuses to elect delegates to the Democratic National Convention every two years. The caucuses also give citizens the chance to meet their elected officials and have conversations about issues affecting them. On the national level, Iowa has two senators and four representatives in Congress who work hard to represent their constituents on a variety of topics. In addition to this representation in Washington DC, Iowa's legislature is divided into 50 districts which are represented by elected officials at both house and senate levels. In summary, Iowa's political scene is robust and vibrant with many important players that can shape both local and national politics.
The political climate in Iowa is leaning conservative.
In Iowa 44.9% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 53.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, Iowa remained moderately Republican, 53.1% to 44.9%.
Iowa voted Republican in 2020, 2016 and 2004, and Democratic in 2012, 2008 and 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
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.
Iowa, Iowa: d r d d 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 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 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 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 Iowa
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 126,754 contributions totaling $14,281,158 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $113 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 40,427 contributions totaling $13,674,320 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $338 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)