Waite Park, Minnesota is a small city located in Central Minnesota with a population of approximately 7,800 people. The city is governed by a mayor and four council members, who are all elected to two-year terms. Local elections are held on the first Tuesday in November every two years. Waite Park residents tend to lean towards voting for Democratic candidates as the majority of their political views align with progressive values. In recent years, the city has seen an increase in voter turnout due to citizens becoming more engaged with local politics and issues that matter to them. This can be seen through the active participation in various committees, such as the Planning Commission or Parks & Recreation Board. The City Council also hosts regular public hearings that provide citizens an opportunity to give their opinions on matters being discussed by elected officials. All these factors contribute to the community’s strong sense of political involvement and engagement with elected representatives, ensuring that local concerns are always heard and taken seriously.
The political climate in Zip 56387 (Waite Park, MN) is somewhat conservative.
Stearns County, MN is moderately conservative. In Stearns County, MN 37.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 60.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Stearns county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 60.1% to 37.6%.
Stearns county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 56387 (Waite Park, MN) is somewhat conservative.
Waite Park, Minnesota is somewhat conservative.
Stearns County, Minnesota is moderately conservative.
St. Cloud Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Minnesota is leaning 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.
Waite Park, Minnesota: 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 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 three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 56387 (Waite Park)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 42 contributions totaling $5,194 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $124 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 82 contributions totaling $19,128 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $233 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)