Marion, IL is a small city in Southern Illinois with a population of about 18,000 people. The city is governed by a mayor-council form of government, with the mayor serving as the main executive and six council members representing their respective wards. Marion has traditionally been politically conservative, favoring Republican candidates and policies. However, in recent years, progressive candidates have seen growing support from local voters. This trend can be seen in the 2018 midterm elections in which two Democratic congressional candidates received significant support from residents of Marion. In recent years, Marion has also sought to become more politically engaged by hosting candidate forums and debates at local schools and churches. As Marion continues to progress towards becoming an even more engaged community, it will be interesting to see how voting patterns evolve along with it.
The political climate in Marion, IL is moderately conservative.
Williamson County, IL is very conservative. In Williamson County, IL 30.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 67.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Williamson county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 67.6% to 30.3%.
Williamson county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Marion, IL is moderately conservative.
Williamson County, Illinois is very conservative.
Illinois is moderately liberal.
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.
Marion, Illinois: 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 Marion, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,419 contributions totaling $386,492 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $160 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,104 contributions totaling $1,422,522 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $1,289 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)