Clearwater County, Idaho is a rural county located in the northern part of the state. As with many rural counties, politics in Clearwater County are largely influenced by the agricultural and logging industries. The county is run by a five-member Board of Commissioners, each elected to serve four-year terms. The board is responsible for setting the budget, approving laws and regulations, and making decisions on behalf of the county residents. At the federal level, Clearwater County is represented by two U.S. Senators and one Representative in Congress. These representatives are responsible for advocating on behalf of their constituents in Washington D.C., making sure their concerns are heard at the highest levels of government. Additionally, local elections take place every two years to determine who will hold offices like Mayor and City Council members in Clearwater's cities and townships. All these leaders help shape the future of Clearwater County - from providing basic services such as road maintenance to creating new opportunities for economic growth.
The political climate in Clearwater County, ID is very conservative.
In Clearwater County, ID 19.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 78.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Clearwater county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 78.1% to 19.8%.
Clearwater county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Clearwater County, ID is very conservative.
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Idaho 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.
Clearwater, Idaho: 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 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 Clearwater County, ID
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 118 contributions totaling $6,269 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $53 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 92 contributions totaling $13,186 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $143 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)