Merrill is a small rural community located in the state of Iowa. It is a tight-knit community with a strong sense of local pride and patriotism. The government of Merrill consists of elected officials who serve at the city, county, and state levels. Locally, the citizens of Merrill have chosen to elect city council members to represent their interests and concerns. These council members come from various backgrounds and experiences, but all share a common goal: to ensure that Merrill remains a safe and prosperous place for its residents. At the county level, elections occur every two years for a county supervisor who helps oversee departments such as public safety, zoning, public works, and more. For state-level representation, Iowa's senate is composed of 50 senators who help craft policies on issues such as education, healthcare, taxes, and other matters important to Iowans. In addition to these representatives from Merrill's own district, other legislators are elected from elsewhere in the state who work together with local elected officials to pass bills that will benefit all Iowans.
The political climate in Merrill, IA is very conservative.
Plymouth County, IA is very conservative. In Plymouth County, IA 24.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 73.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Plymouth county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 73.9% to 24.6%.
Plymouth county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Merrill, IA is very conservative.
Plymouth County, Iowa is very conservative.
Sioux City Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Iowa is leaning 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.
Merrill, Iowa: 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 Merrill, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 24 contributions totaling $657 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $27 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 19 contributions totaling $4,020 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $212 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)