Bates, SD is a small town nestled in the hills of South Dakota. The town has a population of just over 1,000 people and its politics are heavily influenced by the values of its residents. Because the population is so small, there are no local political candidates or major political parties involved in the operations of the town. Instead, Bates relies on its citizens to have an active voice in their community and take part in its decision-making processes. The residents come together to discuss issues that affect them such as taxes, infrastructure improvements, and education. The people of Bates recognize that open dialogue and mutual respect are key components for successful governance and have created an effective system that allows them to make decisions quickly and effectively.
The political climate in Bates, SD is very conservative.
Hand County, SD is very conservative. In Hand County, SD 20.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 78.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hand county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 78.1% to 20.3%.
Hand county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Bates, SD is very conservative.
Hand County, South Dakota is very conservative.
South Dakota is strongly 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.
Bates, South Dakota: 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 Bates, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 0 contributions totaling $0 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5 contributions totaling $880 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $176 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)