Polk County, IA is a vibrant and active community with local politics that are of great interest to many of its inhabitants. Politics in Polk County are mainly based on the two major political parties, Democratic and Republican. Local elections for county supervisors, mayors, school board representatives, and judges are held every two years. In addition to traditional candidates from the two major parties, third-party candidates also compete for votes in some races. Each election cycle brings an exciting opportunity for citizens of Polk County to get involved and vote for their chosen candidates. Candidates campaigning to represent local interests can often be seen attending events throughout the county or holding town hall meetings in order to reach out to constituents. By engaging in politics at a local level, residents of Polk County are able to have an impact on issues that matter most to them - from public safety initiatives, to job growth potentials within the community.
The political climate in Polk County, IA is somewhat liberal.
In Polk County, IA 56.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.2% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Polk county remained very strongly Democratic, 56.5% to 41.3%.
Polk county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Polk County, IA is somewhat liberal.
Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
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.
Polk, Iowa: d 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 Polk County, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 27,046 contributions totaling $5,515,683 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $204 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 8,038 contributions totaling $4,198,399 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $522 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)