Meade County, South Dakota is a rural county located in the southwestern part of the state. It is home to a diverse population of ranchers, farmers, and small business owners who are deeply invested in their local communities. Despite its smaller size, Meade County has an active political landscape with passionate debates about many important issues affecting the people of the county. The county is divided into two legislative districts and provides residents with various outlets for engagement, from attending school board meetings to voting on local referendums. Local candidates have committed themselves to taking on challenging topics like education reform, clean energy initiatives, job creation and economic development. Elected officials strive to ensure that the voice of their constituents is heard and that there are strong representation for all citizens in Meade County.
The political climate in Meade County, SD is very conservative.
In Meade County, SD 24.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 72.2% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 3.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Meade county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 72.2% to 24.0%.
Meade county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Meade County, SD is very conservative.
Rapid City Metro Area is strongly conservative.
South Dakota is strongly 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.
Meade, South Dakota: 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 Meade County, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 170 contributions totaling $18,374 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $108 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 345 contributions totaling $60,902 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $177 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)