Des Moines, Iowa is the county seat of Polk County and is the most populous city in the state of Iowa. It serves as an important political and economic hub for the Midwest region. The city government consists of a Mayor-council system, with a mayor and eight council members elected at-large to four-year terms. The Mayor is responsible for proposing budgets, enacting laws, appointing citizens to various boards and commissions, and carrying out other duties in running the city. The City Council establishes policy, approves budgets, adopts resolutions and ordinances, enforces regulations, and represents the general interests of residents. In addition to local government representatives, many national politicians have their offices in Des Moines including Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst as well as Representatives Dave Loebsack and Cindy Axne. With such a wide variety of representation both locally and nationally it's no wonder Des Moines has become an important center for politics in Iowa.
The political climate in Des Moines County, IA is somewhat conservative.
In Des Moines County, IA 44.6% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 53.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Des Moines county remained moderately Republican, 53.1% to 44.6%.
Des Moines county voted Republican in the two most recent Presidential elections, after voting Democratic in the previous four.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Des Moines County, IA is somewhat conservative.
Burlington Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
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.
Des Moines, Iowa: 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 Des Moines County, IA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,398 contributions totaling $113,874 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $81 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 498 contributions totaling $84,286 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $169 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)