Custer, South Dakota is a small town located in the western part of the state. It has a vibrant political culture with an active citizenry engaged in local, regional and national politics. The government of Custer is comprised of city council, mayor and staff that serve to represent the interests of the people who live there. The city council meets regularly to discuss policy decisions and how they will benefit the citizens of Custer. Issues such as budgeting, infrastructure, public safety and economic development are all discussed at council meetings.
Residents of Custer also have a strong voice in local politics. Voting is an important part of civic engagement and many citizens come out to vote for their favorite candidates during elections. They may also take part in campaigns or volunteer their time to support a particular candidate or issue that they believe in. This involvement helps to ensure that the residents’ voices are heard and respected by elected officials.
The political climate in Custer, SD is strongly conservative.
Custer County, SD is very conservative. In Custer County, SD 27.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 70.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Custer county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 70.1% to 27.7%.
Custer county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Custer, SD is strongly conservative.
Custer County, South Dakota is very conservative.
Rapid City Metro Area is strongly 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.
Custer, 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 Custer, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 190 contributions totaling $6,763 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $36 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 141 contributions totaling $52,071 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $369 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)