The city of Urbandale, IA is a small, suburban community located in Polk County. It has a population of over 40,000 and is an integral part of the Des Moines metropolitan area. Politically, Urbandale has a strong history of civic engagement and involvement with local government and politics. The City Council is composed of seven representatives who are elected by their constituents on a non-partisan basis to serve four-year terms. There are also several other offices that are filled by appointed positions such as the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The current Mayor is Robert Andeweg, who was elected in 2019 to serve through 2023. The City Council works to provide services to Urbandale residents including public safety, education, economic development, transportation planning, recreation and culture initiatives. The City Council also works hard to ensure that the local economy remains viable and strong for businesses and those living within the community.
The political climate in Urbandale, 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
Urbandale, 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.
Urbandale, 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 Urbandale, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 11,445 contributions totaling $1,442,658 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $126 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 4,764 contributions totaling $1,962,298 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $412 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)