Great Bend, South Dakota is a small town located in the heart of the Great Plains region. Although it has a humble population of only 811, the political climate of this town is an important factor in understanding the culture and dynamics of the area. Great Bend's government is led by a mayor and six council members who are elected every two years during local elections. The mayor and council members work together to pass policies and laws that impact the lives of all residents within the town. In addition to local elections, several federal representatives also regularly come through Great Bend to share information or listen to constituents' concerns. This allows for communication between citizens and their representatives on matters such as taxes, healthcare, education, and other topics that are important to citizens living in Great Bend. Through these outlets, Great Bend's government works to ensure that its citizens have their voices heard.
The political climate in Great Bend, SD is very conservative.
Spink County, SD is very conservative. In Spink County, SD 31.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 66.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Spink county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 66.5% to 31.6%.
Spink county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Great Bend, SD is very conservative.
Spink 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.
Great Bend, 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 Great Bend, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 8 contributions totaling $2,506 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $313 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 59 contributions totaling $9,675 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $164 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)