Notre Dame, IN is a small city located in St. Joseph County with a population of just over 5,000 people. Despite its size, Notre Dame has an active political scene that regularly engages local residents and civic leaders. The city is served by the Mayor-Council form of government where elected officials work together to ensure the best interests of the community are met. This includes tackling issues such as public safety, infrastructure improvements, and economic development. Additionally, each year candidates for mayor and city council members are put forward by local citizens to stand for election in city-wide votes. These candidates often carry differing platforms and agendas which allow residents to determine the direction that they wish their city to take over the following years. As a result, Notre Dame has maintained an energized political system that encourages civic engagement and participation among its citizens.
The political climate in Notre Dame, IN is moderately liberal.
St. Joseph County, IN is leaning liberal. In St. Joseph County, IN 52.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, St. Joseph county remained moderately Democratic, 52.0% to 46.1%.
St. Joseph county voted Democratic in five of the last six Presidential elections (2004 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Notre Dame, IN is moderately liberal.
St. Joseph County, Indiana is leaning liberal.
South Bend-Mishawaka Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Indiana is somewhat 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.
Notre Dame, Indiana: d r D d d d
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 Notre Dame, IN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 6,840 contributions totaling $695,269 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $102 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 624 contributions totaling $164,909 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $264 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)