Routt County, Colorado is a rural area in Northwestern Colorado that encompasses over 2,600 square miles and includes the towns of Steamboat Springs, Oak Creek, Yampa, and Hayden. Residents of the county are represented at local government level by the Routt County Board of Commissioners. The board is comprised of three elected officials who each serve four year terms. Each commissioner is responsible for specific policy and budget decisions affecting local services such as parks and recreation, public safety, libraries and community development. In addition to the commissioners, there are also several other elected officials such as a county clerk, treasurer and assessor. With its small population of just under 25,000 people Routt County has been able to retain its political independence while still participating in state-wide elections. Election season always brings out a wide variety of opinions from all sides of the political spectrum making it an exciting time for residents to get involved in shaping their county's future.
The political climate in Routt County, CO is strongly liberal.
In Routt County, CO 62.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 35.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Routt county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 62.7% to 35.1%.
Routt county voted Democratic in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Republican in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Routt County, CO is strongly liberal.
Steamboat Springs Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Colorado is somewhat liberal.
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.
Routt, Colorado: r D D D D D
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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 Routt County, CO
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,276 contributions totaling $773,695 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $236 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 752 contributions totaling $341,776 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $454 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)