Ankeny, Iowa is a vibrant community with a rich political landscape. It is the third largest city in Polk County, and in recent years has experienced rapid population growth, becoming one of the fastest growing cities in the state of Iowa. In addition to its population growth, the politics of Ankeny have also seen an influx in participation and interest. The City Council is responsible for passing local laws, voting on budgets, and approving contracts that affect the day-to-day lives of citizens. They are dedicated to providing quality services to their constituents and engaging in meaningful dialogue with them about important issues such as public safety, infrastructure development, and economic development. Furthermore, there are many local political candidates standing for election each year who seek to represent the citizens of Ankeny in various levels of government. Candidates from all political parties participate in debates and forums where they can share their visions for Ankeny’s future and how they would best serve its people. With all this activity happening around politics within Ankeny's boundaries it is certainly an exciting time and place to be politically involved!
The political climate in Ankeny, IA is leaning liberal.
Polk County, IA is somewhat liberal. In Polk County, IA 56.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.5% to 41.3%.
Polk county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Ankeny, IA is leaning liberal.
Polk County, Iowa is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro Area is somewhat 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.
Ankeny, 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 Ankeny, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,441 contributions totaling $544,270 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $123 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 3,311 contributions totaling $1,433,414 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $433 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)