Council Bluffs, IA is a city that takes pride in its political involvement. Every election cycle, local Council Bluff residents make their voices heard by participating in the democratic process of voting. This is especially true during the presidential election year when locals come together to discuss and debate the issues that are important to them. In addition to the national elections, there are several local races for mayor, city council positions, and other political offices held each year. These races help ensure that the citizens of Council Bluffs have a voice in their government. Issues such as taxation, public safety, and education are heavily discussed during these campaigns, giving voters an opportunity to make sure their representatives represent their views in office.
The political climate in Council Bluffs, IA is leaning conservative.
Pottawattamie County, IA is moderately conservative. In Pottawattamie County, IA 40.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 57.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Pottawattamie county remained very strongly Republican, 57.4% to 40.6%.
Pottawattamie county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Council Bluffs, IA is leaning conservative.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa is moderately conservative.
Omaha-Council Bluffs Metro Area is leaning conservative.
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.
Council Bluffs, Iowa: 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 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 Council Bluffs, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,823 contributions totaling $270,160 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $56 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,941 contributions totaling $600,671 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $204 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)