Shirley, IN is a small rural town located in Hancock County. It has a long history of local politics, which have been shaped by the interests of the community and its leaders. Currently, the mayor of Shirley is John Smith, who was elected to his first term in 2019. The town council consists of five members, each representing one of the wards in the city. Together they work to create policy for the betterment of Shirley and its citizens. Through collaboration with other local governmental bodies and elected officials they have been able to make improvements such as improved infrastructure, new housing developments, and enhanced public safety initiatives.
The political climate in Shirley, IN is strongly conservative.
Hancock County, IN is very conservative. In Hancock County, IN 30.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 67.4% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hancock county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 67.4% to 30.0%.
Hancock county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Shirley, IN is strongly conservative.
Hancock County, Indiana is very conservative.
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson 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.
Shirley, Indiana: 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 Shirley, IN
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 10 contributions totaling $40 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $4 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 6 contributions totaling $560 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $93 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)