Benton Township in Spink County, South Dakota is a small community with a population of approximately 2,000 people. The township traditionally elects two representatives to serve on the town board, who are responsible for making decisions on behalf of the local residents. In recent years Benton Township has seen an increase in political engagement from its citizens. Local elections for town board have been highly contested and many young people have jumped into the political process by running for office for the first time. Political issues being discussed include things such as infrastructure investment, environmental protection and economic development of the area. The election of new leadership in Benton Township will be closely watched by both residents and outside observers alike as it will give insight into what direction this small but growing town is taking moving forward.
The political climate in Benton township (Spink County), SD is strongly conservative.
Spink County, SD is very conservative. In Spink County, SD 31.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 66.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Spink county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 66.5% to 31.6%.
Spink county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Benton township (Spink County), SD is strongly conservative.
Spink County, South Dakota is very conservative.
South Dakota is strongly 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.
Benton township (Spink County), South Dakota: 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 Benton township (Spink County), SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 9 contributions totaling $430 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $48 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 0 contributions totaling $0 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $0 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)