Carbon County, Montana is a rural area located in the southwest corner of the state. This region of the state is largely agricultural and ranching, with a focus on farming and livestock production. The local economy is heavily reliant on agriculture and ranching, as well as tourism in the nearby mountains and National Forests. Politically, Carbon County is a strongly conservative area that votes Republican at all levels of government. It is part of a region that was formerly strongly Democratic but has shifted significantly rightward over the past few decades. Local issues in Carbon County include water rights, access to public lands for recreation and grazing, as well as other rural development issues such as transportation infrastructure and broadband access. Local elections typically feature Republican candidates running unopposed or against Libertarian candidates due to the county’s one-party dominance in recent years.
The political climate in Carbon County, MT is strongly conservative.
In Carbon County, MT 34.3% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 63.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Carbon county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 63.3% to 34.3%.
Carbon county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Carbon County, MT is strongly conservative.
Billings Metro Area is strongly conservative.
Montana is moderately 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.
Carbon, Montana: R R R 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 Carbon County, MT
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 2,393 contributions totaling $241,797 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $101 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 298 contributions totaling $157,464 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $528 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)