Mercer County, Illinois is an area of the United States that has seen a lot of political action in recent years. The county located along the Mississippi River has several municipalities and townships with different governing bodies at work. From local elections to state and national issues, Mercer County residents have had their voices heard in the past few election cycles. Some notable political figures from the county include current representatives in Congress: Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood; as well as former Governor, Jim Edgar. With a population of approximately fourteen thousand people, it is no surprise that Mercer County residents are engaged in political issues. With a variety of cultural backgrounds represented throughout its various townships and cities, all voices are heard when it comes to making decisions regarding local laws or policies. It is clear that Mercer County is an area where politics matter and those living here have made their presence known on both state and national levels.
The political climate in Mercer County, IL is strongly conservative.
In Mercer County, IL 36.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 60.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Mercer county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 60.8% to 36.8%.
Mercer county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Mercer County, IL is strongly conservative.
Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metro Area is leaning liberal.
Illinois is moderately 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.
Mercer, Illinois: d d D d 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 Mercer County, IL
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 348 contributions totaling $20,132 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $58 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 131 contributions totaling $38,734 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $296 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)