Clifton Township, located in Spink County, South Dakota is a small community with a population of approximately 500 people. Despite its small size, Clifton has an active local political scene. The township is represented by two members of the board of county commissioners and is served by other elected officials including a coroner and sheriff. Every year, the citizens have the chance to elect their representatives to serve them in local government. In recent years, candidates for various local offices have put together platforms that focus on improving public safety, reducing taxes, and promoting economic development. As a result of their efforts, Clifton Township has seen significant improvements in all three areas. Residents continue to be engaged in the political process and take part in selecting their representatives at election time.
The political climate in Clifton 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
Clifton 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.
Clifton 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 Clifton township (Spink County), SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 21 contributions totaling $3,211 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $153 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 18 contributions totaling $1,376 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $76 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)