Johnston, Iowa is a small city located in the Des Moines metropolitan area. It has a vibrant political environment with community members actively engaged in debates about local issues. The City Council consists of five elected members who set policies for the town and serve as a liaison between the citizens and the state government. There are also numerous volunteer boards and committees that provide an important voice for Johnston residents, such as the Parks & Recreation Board, which helps maintain local recreational areas, or the Planning & Zoning Commission, which oversees zoning regulations in the city. Residents of Johnston can get involved by attending City Council meetings or participating in any of these boards or committees to ensure their voices are heard when it comes to local politics.
The political climate in Johnston, 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
Johnston, 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.
Johnston, 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 Johnston, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 5,746 contributions totaling $840,797 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $146 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,032 contributions totaling $644,975 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $317 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)