Van Buren, Arkansas is an important political center in the region, offering a wide range of opportunities for citizens to get involved in local politics. The city is home to the Crawford County Courthouse and several other government offices and departments. Local citizens can take part in electing their representatives every two years for mayor, council members, and various other positions on boards and commissions. Additionally, Van Buren has its own Democratic Central Committee that works to promote the political party’s values and principles as well as organizing activities like voter registration drives. Every election season there are always plenty of political forums and debates hosted throughout the city where candidates can exchange ideas and share their visions for improving the community. There are also a number of local organizations that regularly host events related to government policy making or civic engagement such as workshops, rallies, or meetings with elected officials. As a result, residents of Van Buren have many ways to get politically active in their hometown.
The political climate in Van Buren, AR is moderately conservative.
Crawford County, AR is very conservative. In Crawford County, AR 20.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 77.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Crawford county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 77.2% to 20.6%.
Crawford county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Van Buren, AR is moderately conservative.
Crawford County, Arkansas is very conservative.
Fort Smith Metro Area is very conservative.
Arkansas 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.
Van Buren, Arkansas: 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 Van Buren, AR
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 300 contributions totaling $36,892 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $123 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 296 contributions totaling $54,812 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $185 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)