Franklin County, Iowa is a rural county located in the northeast corner of the state. It is largely agricultural with some small cities and towns scattered throughout. Politically speaking, Franklin County leans towards the conservative side of the aisle. It is represented in the Iowa House of Representatives by Republican lawmakers, and in the Iowa Senate by a mix of Republicans and Democrats. The current Sheriff of Franklin County is also a Republican, as are its three County Board Members. On the national level, Franklin County has consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates since 2000, with Donald Trump carrying it with nearly 70% of votes in 2016. Local elections follow similar lines, with Republicans dominating both county-wide races and local city council seats. Despite this strong show of support for conservative ideals, social issues such as gun control and LGBTQ+ rights remain contentious topics in this rural county.
The political climate in Franklin County, IA is very conservative.
In Franklin County, IA 31.7% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 66.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Franklin county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 66.7% to 31.7%.
Franklin county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Franklin County, IA is very conservative.
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Iowa is leaning 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.
Franklin, Iowa: R R d 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 Franklin County, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 44 contributions totaling $4,108 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $93 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 103 contributions totaling $29,352 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $285 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)