Palo Alto, IA County is an area that is known for its local politics. The county is made up of several townships and each township has a mayor, council members, and other officials who are responsible for governing the area. The elected officials make decisions about zoning, taxes, education, public safety, healthcare and more. They also work to ensure that their constituents have access to basic services such as quality roads and bridges, public transportation, and access to clean water. Local political candidates must be knowledgeable about all of these topics in order to effectively represent their constituents. Residents of Palo Alto County can vote in local elections and participate in the political process by attending town meetings or contacting their local representatives to voice concerns or ideas.
The political climate in Palo Alto County, IA is very conservative.
In Palo Alto County, IA 30.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Palo Alto county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.0% to 30.6%.
Palo Alto county voted Republican in five of the last six Presidential elections (2008 went Democratic).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Palo Alto 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.
Palo Alto, 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 Palo Alto County, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 451 contributions totaling $19,135 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $42 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 93 contributions totaling $13,208 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $142 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)