Salem, Iowa is a small town with a population of approximately 900 people. It is located in Marion County and serves as the county seat. The political landscape in Salem is typical for a small Iowa town. There are two major parties represented in the local government, Republican and Democrat. Local elections are usually fierce but respectful contests between candidates representing each party. The City Council consists of five members elected by residents of Salem and serves to maintain and improve the quality of life in the city. The Mayor is elected at-large and presides over City Council meetings. The Mayor also works with all City departments to improve the efficiency of local government operations and ensure that all citizens’ needs are being met. Overall, Salem has an active political environment where both sides of the aisle can find common ground on issues important to local residents.
The political climate in Salem, IA is strongly conservative.
Henry County, IA is very conservative. In Henry County, IA 32.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 65.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Henry county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 65.2% to 32.8%.
Henry county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Salem, IA is strongly conservative.
Henry County, Iowa is very 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.
Salem, 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 Salem, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 32 contributions totaling $4,150 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $130 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2 contributions totaling $500 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $250 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)