Gettysburg, South Dakota is a small rural town located in Potter County. It has a population of just over 1,000 people and encompasses an area of around 2.1 square miles. Despite its size, Gettysburg is home to a vibrant political landscape with many candidates vying for the local votes each election cycle. From school board races to county commissioner races, Gettysburg residents have plenty of opportunities to become involved in the local political process. Several grassroots organizations are active in the area as well, helping to inform voters on policy issues that affect them directly. Community members take great pride in getting involved and making their voices heard on issues that matter most to them and their families. With much enthusiasm for local politics, it’s no surprise that voter turnout is consistently high in Gettysburg during elections year after year.
The political climate in Gettysburg, SD is strongly conservative.
Potter County, SD is very conservative. In Potter County, SD 16.4% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 82.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Potter county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 82.5% to 16.4%.
Potter county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Gettysburg, SD is strongly conservative.
Potter 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.
Gettysburg, 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 Gettysburg, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 45 contributions totaling $629 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $14 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 37 contributions totaling $26,794 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $724 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)